Character strength · Temperance
Self-control as a character strength: meaning and examples
The short answer: self-control, also called self-regulation, is managing what you feel and do: resisting impulses, keeping habits, and staying calm when emotions run high. It is one of the 24 character strengths of the VIA classification, in the Temperance family: the strengths that protect against excess.
What self-control looks like
People with a lot of self-control tend to:
- stick to routines: exercise, sleep, saving
- can stop at one when they have decided on one
- stay calm in an argument instead of saying something they will regret
- finish the work before the reward
- keep their emotions in proportion to the situation
In everyday life
At work, self-control is answering the provocative email tomorrow instead of now, or staying focused through an afternoon of distractions. At home, it is the training plan followed through winter, or the budget kept even when a sale is tempting.
Self-control works a bit like a muscle: it is easier when you are rested and fed, and harder when you are tired or stressed. Good habits reduce how much of it you need.
Self-control and the strengths close to it
- Prudence plans for the long run. Self-control carries out the plan, moment by moment.
- Perseverance keeps going on a task. Self-control keeps distractions and impulses out of the way.
- Humility and self-control both keep the ego in check.
When self-control is overdone, or underused
Like every strength, self-control works best in the right amount. Overdone, self-control can become rigid: too strict with yourself, unable to relax or enjoy a treat, or bottling up feelings. Underused, impulses decide, habits slip, and emotions can take over at the worst moment.
The aim is being in charge of your choices, with room left for enjoyment.
Is self-control one of your top strengths?
Ask yourself:
- Do you keep up habits once you decide on them?
- Can you usually stay calm when someone provokes you?
- Do you find it easy to delay a reward until the work is done?
If you answered yes to most of these, self-control may be one of your signature strengths. The only way to know how it compares with your other 23 is to rank them.
Find your top strengths with the free test
Where this comes from
The 24 character strengths were described by psychologists Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman in Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification (2004). Happy Me's assessment uses public-domain questions from the International Personality Item Pool and is not affiliated with the VIA Institute.