Stick-to-it-ive-ness and the Middle Age Spread
The legendary Irish wit, Oscar Wilde, wrote a play that debuted in London in 1892 called Lady Windermere’s Fan. It was so successful that it has been in continuous production in one form or another ever since.
It's from this masterpiece that we get one of Wilde’s pithiest witticisms - from the rakish character, Lord Darlington, when he comments, “I can resist everything except temptation.”
No truer words have ever been spoken! Temptation is best managed through avoidance.
Or, said another way, “If you don’t want to slip, don’t go where it’s slippery.”
The battle between temptation and stick-to-it-ive-ness
As a personal fitness trainer here in Westborough, MA, I have a front row seat to the fight between my clients’ temptations… and their resolve to do whatever it takes to reach their functional fitness goals.
Temptation is the desire to do something usually considered wrong or unwise. The compromise of long-term fulfillment for short-term enjoyment. And chances are, it’s one of the biggest culprits behind the Middle Age Spread—that shift in our physical fitness that hits not too long after we pass 40.
Every self-improvement effort ever attempted, from working with a personal fitness trainer to healthier eating, begins with a sizable dose of what my Mom called stick-to-it-ive-ness. We often do well in the beginning. Until we are tempted. The strongest-willed amongst us, those who possess powerful stick-to-it-ive-ness, can usually hold out for a while. I admire them.
But, the rest of us usually fall short about as soon we are tempted. As tiredness, inertia, and the call of that 11pm ice cream snack slowly wear down every ounce of stick-to-it-ive-ness we have.
While doing some research on this essay, I actually came across a study that supports this. Published in the psychology journal Personality and Individual Differences, the authors assert that…
High trait self-control has been traditionally described as a keen ability to resist temptation. The present research suggests that high trait self-control is linked to avoiding, rather than merely resisting, temptation. People high in trait self-control reported engaging in behaviors thought to minimize (or avoid) temptation to a greater extent than people low in trait self-control.
I’m not sure about you, but I actually consider these findings really encouraging! I interpret this to mean that our success with any attempt at positive change in our lives has less to do with some magical super-power of self-control or iron willpower and more to do with the purposeful avoidance of slippery slopes.
Remember, if you don't want to slip, don’t go where it’s slippery.
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