Dr. Kentaro Fujita

There is some research suggests that that disengagement process is very difficult.

And we actually don't understand it nearly as well as we understand persistence.

So because of research on self-control and grit, we know a lot more about persistence than we know about disengagement.

And it's an area of research that is really important for us to get into.

We do know that disengagement is related to lots of positive outcomes when the person is unable to pursue a goal anymore.

So, for example, if you're a woman and you always wanted to have children, but you're now past the biological age where you can have children, it's probably healthy to disengage from the desire to have children.

Similarly, if we age out of a sport or we experience some kind of catastrophic injury where we just can't do it anymore or some window of opportunity has closed,

Research suggests that for people who are more adept at disengagement, they experience better mental well-being outcomes and they're able to re-engage in a new set of goals much faster.

But beyond that, we have to really understand more about the psychology of disengagement and how we know when to persist and when to disengage

It's a really important question, but we don't know very much about it, partly because we tend to, in our culture, emphasize persistence and grit more than disengagement.

I think what you're saying is really interesting because I do think we know from research that people are incredibly creative at coming up for justifications to not engage in self-control.

So, you know...

I'm supposed to work out today.

My gym clothes don't match.

Or, you know, I'm supposed to work out today, but it's too sunny.

I'm supposed to work out today, but it's not sunny enough.

It's raining too much.

It's raining too little.

Like people are remarkably creative at coming up with reasons to justify their indulging in their temptations.

So what's really interesting about what you're suggesting here is that you can just –