We are limited with our self-control

  Self-control is the ability to subdue our impulses in order to achieve longer-term goals. Rather than responding to immediate impulses, we can plan, evaluate alternative actions, and, often enough, avoid doing things we'll later regret. The ability to exert self-control is typically called willpower. It is what allows us to direct our attention, and it underlies all kinds of achievement. Exercising willpower makes heavy demands on mental energy, notably on reserves of glucose, the brain's preferred fuel, creating ego depletion. It's one reason we're more likely to reach for that chocolate cookie when we're feeling stressed rather than when we're buzzing with lots of energy.

          Unsurprisingly, self-control has become a hot topic, both for scientists interested in understanding the roots of human behavior and for practitioners who want to help people live better lives. Most of the problems that plague modern individuals in our society include; Addiction, Overfeeding, Domestic Violence, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Prejudice, Debt, Unwanted Pregnancy, Educational Failure, Under-performance at School and Work, Lack of Savings, Failure to Exercise. All these have some degree of self control failure as a central cause.Therefore, self-control is a rare and powerful opportunity for psychologists to make a palpable and highly beneficial difference in the lives of ordinary people.

          Making decisions deplete one’s willpower; which is the ability to exert self-control. The same energy that is used for self-control is also used for making decisions. After making decisions, people perform worse at self-control activities. Conversely, after exerting self control, decision-making shifts toward simpler and easier processes. That can lead people to make poorer decisions, or avoiding making decisions at all. It is a bit surprising that decision making depletes the same resource as self-control. Intuitively it does not seem right, but on paper the hypothesis is a plausible extension.  A dieter may easily avoid sugar for breakfast, but after a long day of manual labor at work, he has a much harder time resisting that bottle of coke. Another example might be losing your temper. Normally, you refrain from responding negatively to unpleasant things people say concerning you but if one day you’re especially depleted — maybe you have met a stressful work deadline and then someone says precisely the wrong thing, you erupt and say the words you would have stifled if your self-control strength was at full capacity.

          Ego depletion is the state of depleted willpower. Some people imagine that self-control or willpower is something you only use once in a while, such as when you are tempted to do something wrong. The opposite is true. Research indicates that the average person spends three to four hours a day resisting desires. Plus, self-control is used for other things as well, such as controlling thoughts and emotions, regulating task performance and making decisions. So most people use their willpower many times a day, all day.

How we limit ourselves with our self control
          When we set our long term goals, we make excuses why we cant achieve very high objectives. We make the excuses of setting realizable goals i.e attainable goals. We stay in the safe end of the pool and find ways to ignore anything that might challenge us in anyway, forgetting that we can achieve anything we set our minds to achieve. We allow circumstances and our belief that we have no choices be our guide instead, forgetting that we can create happiness as much as we can create misery for ourselves. Stepping away from familiar paradigms, from what we have been taught and allowing ourselves to design our lives doesn't even seem to cross our minds at all. We never approach that person that really catches our attention because of the fear of being rejected, we never dare to follow our wildest obsessions because of the fear that we might appear crazy.

          It is easier to never make a decision or never take responsibility either. We just follow the crowd without asking "Is this what I really want to be doing?". No one promotes going against the odds because it is not what most of us do. We take the easiest route instead of the road less traveled by. We are missing out on those moments of absolute freedom because we control ourselves with safety in mind. Our fear leaves us paralyzed in the safety of what we know, what we were taught and what we currently do.

          Also we quit the good fight because we find it too risky, too hard, too long and with no real guarantee of success. Looking around, we find no other participants of life taking the paths we take and our efforts though honorable and appreciated by a few become too much to handle alone. Walking away or quitting is very simple with the excuse "I tried all i could, it just didn't work out as expected". Out of fear and tiredness, we believe we cannot find a single ounce of strength to continue to pursue our dreams. We also forget why we started because our reasons for taking a particular direction can lose its authenticity if we end up on a road we never intended to take, dealing with more than we imagined or  not seeming to make appreciable progress.