Do expats lack self-control?

We are now into the second quarter of 2015 and at this point nobody would be blaming you for giving up on your New Year’s resolutions.  Research from the University of Scranton by John Norcross suggests that only 46% of people who make NY resolutions to change something in their life are still on track at the six-month point. 

But as I said in a previous blog on this topic, I reckon expats (at least those new to their location) have some odds stacked against them when it comes to wanting to change behaviours.  One of the things adding to that stack is the challenge that I think exists to the expat’s reserves of self-control.

We all recognise the impact of self-control.  It’s what enables us to do things even when it’s not easy or natural.  The self-control part of our self is what enables us to choose less attractive options, ‘Yes, I will go for a run’, ‘I will pick up the phone and introduce myself to that new contact’, ‘I will work on those spreadsheets,’ ‘I will drink mineral water instead of gin’,  ‘eat carrots instead of chocolate’ etc etc

One of the key researchers in the area, Roy Baumeister, says self-control is dependent on a limited energy resource.  That means that when we have been exerting our self-control for some purpose, (say, for example, to resist flirting with an attractive colleague) we tend to have less available the next time we want it (say, for example, to drink mineral water instead of gin)

As Baumeister says, “self-control is like a muscle that gets tired. People may start the day fresh and rested, but as they exert self-control over the course of the day, their powers may diminish. Many researchers have observed that self-control tends to break down late in the day, especially if it has been a demanding or stressful day. Most diets are broken in the evening, sexual misdeeds and addictive relapses occur at the end of long and demanding days.”

So how do I think this relates to expats?  It’s not just that they have long and demanding days, although many of them do, it’s also about the many other demands that are being placed on their self-control to exert the thinking processes required to navigate a new environment, to operate differently for a new culture and location.

Speaking another language, choosing ways to communicate effectively, reminding oneself of new behaviours and etiquette, even the drive to work requires self-control to focus and be alert rather than slip into more automatic ways of behaving (which may involve driving on the wrong side of the road!). 

In this new location, the expat hasn’t yet developed the skill level to enable automatic ways of behaving so needs to choose to focus on each aspect of behaviour and attitude.

All of this leads to what Baumeister describes as ‘ego-depletion’.

In that state of ego-depletion researchers have found people are more likely to give in to prejudices, to have poor decision-making and to lack the self-control to resist poor choices.

So what can we do about it? 

The good news is that, like a muscle, self-control can actually be strengthened by glucose and, over time, by repeated usage.  Like a muscle that gets tired but comes back stronger after a time of nutrition and exercise, so self-control exerted in simple ways over time becomes stronger.  Smokers who did regular hand-grip exercises found it easier to give up smoking at a later point in time.

Consciously using self-control such as in the cultural adaptation behaviours described above may, in the longer term, assist the expat to change other behaviours as their self-control increases. 

In the meantime, make sure you allow yourself plenty of healthy snacks to replenish your glucose during the day and after a hard days work go home and rest!

And let me know what you have observed in the comments below.