Day One: Temperence

This marks the first day of my month of discipline, in which I will attempt to form a long-term habit of self improvement and self control. So far, my temptations have been mild and for the most part, I have kept in control. A vice I have indulged myself is of checking my email and various news sites often as a means of avoiding work. This is something that I will have to limit, and I'm noticing is a deeply ingrained bad habit.

This bad habit is a good way to segue into the first of Benjamin Franklin's 13 areas of self improvement: Temperance. One of my key inspirations for starting this voyage of self improvement was seeing how it propelled Mr. Franklin to an incredibly productive life. Every week he would concentrate on bettering himself in one of thirteen areas, documenting and analyzing means to improve his performance.

Temperance is listed as the first of these areas, and is introduced thus:
"TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation."
Unfortunately for me, addressing temperance will be a painful step; eating and drinking are two simple pleasures that I find myself indulging despite my self-promises to the contrary. It is not that I am a drunkard or obese; in fact, I am in very good physical shape and do not often get drunk. However, I realize that sometimes I do not have the self control to deny a drink or stop myself from overeating.

While eating brings a simple pleasure, as does drinking, I should be able to transcend these simple base pleasures, these evolutionary artifacts from caveman days, and concentrate on more complex and ultimately more fufilling long-term goals.

Food brings pleasure because it is necessary to sustain life; we crave salty, fatty, unhealthy foods because such foods are rich in energy that was once hard for primitive man to acquire. In modern civilization where food is not in short supply, these desires are counter-productive. Although it might be delicious and bring me pleasure in the short term, eating an entire cheesecake is counter-productive towards my not being a gigantic tub of lard.

Drinking is a similar story; alcohol is merely a chemical that brings temporary relaxation, pleasure, and relief from thinking. It is merely a drug, although perhaps a mild one that can be responsibly used. Sampling diverse flavors and varieties of beers is an enjoyable hobby, and sometimes the relaxation that alcohol brings is an impetus to think through things in different ways or talk with friends about topics that ordinarily are not discussed.

I do not propose to abolish food or alcohol from my diet, the former for obvious reasons, the latter because I enjoy it too much, but to always feel that I have control over my desires and urges rather than letting the urges drive me. Because I like food so much, this is sometimes difficult, especially when I am around friends who indulge themselves more than I would like to. The smell of greasy pizza is enticing, and I must fight actively against my genes in order to avoid overindulging myself. Likewise when I am out at a bar with friends it is easy to continue drinking past the point I said I would limit myself to ('only two beers tonight') because I know that more alcohol will bring me short-term pleasure.

It is not the short-term, with which my base instincts tell me to optimize towards, but the long-term, which my analytical brain considers, that truly matter. Temperance, although introduced by Jefferson only in the scope of food and drink, can apply to any short-term goal which may hinder a long-term goal. For example, for me, I am aware that overchecking my email, or habitually checking news sites is a way to avoid work, which is necessary for my long-term goals.

So for the rest of today, and hopefully, for the rest of the month, I will institute a policy of temperance when I realize I am over-indulging a habit. The first two that I have recognized, checking my email and news sites, I will try to limit to only a few times per day. Perhaps by tomorrow I will find a way of quantitatively measuring how often I do these two things, so that I can ensure I am progressing towards minimizing them