When you want to get up for an early flight, what do you do? You set an alarm. If you want to benchpress your body weight, how do you start? You slowly build up your muscles so you can achieve your goal. And when you’ve got a big deadline looming, what’s the best way to handle it? Plan out your time.

If you’re like most people, you know all these things are true, but at some point or another, you’ve dropped the ball: You’ve missed a flight because you cut it too close, you’ve overestimated what you can physically do, hurting yourself in the process, or you’ve tried to cram in a month’s worth of work into a frantic forty-eight-hour panic fest. Yes?

You’re not alone. Even Aristotle knew this when he said, “I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.”

You want the secret to success. You want to take control of your life and achieve your goals. We all do. Since research has repeatedly shown that self-control is like a muscle, think of this book as your personal trainer to build up your skills and strength. Self-Control in 7 Steps offers the proven mental tricks, organizational strategies, and tools to transform the bored, unfocused, and lazy in all of us.

Christine B. Whelan, PhD, is a professor, author and journalist. She is a visiting assistant professor of sociology at the University of Pittsburgh. She earned a doctorate from the University of Oxford for her research on the self-help industry and has held teaching positions at the University of Iowa and Princeton University. Dr. Whelan is the author of Marry Smart: The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to True Love (Simon & Schuster, 2009) and Why Smart Men Marry Smart Women (Simon & Schuster, 2006). She has been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times, among others. She writes a bi-weekly relationship advice column for BustedHalo, a young-adult website. She has appeared live on television and radio programs across the nation. Dr. Whelan, and her husband Peter Moyers, live and work in Pittsburgh, with their dictator cats, Chairman Meow and Evita Purrron.