When participants framed a refusal as “I don’t” (for instance, “I don’t eat sweets”) instead of “I can’t”,they were more successful at resisting the desire to eat unhealthy foods or skip the gym.The study author
Vanessa Patrick, a professor of marketing at the
University of Houston C. T. Bauer College of Business,says “I believe that an effective route to self-regulation is
by managing your temptation, instead of relying solely on
willpower”.She also believes that deprivation is not a
useful tool for self-control.