Adopt These 4 Practices to Override Your Negative Impulses Life comes at us at breakneck speed, and it can be easy to live it on autopilot — however, sometimes that leads to us acting impulsively (and in ways that derail our success). Follow these four practices to ensure that doesn't happen to you.

We all have moments when our impulses get the best of us. A friend makes a joke at our expense and we snap back angrily, instead of shrugging it off. Someone cuts us off in traffic and we flick them off, even though they're a stranger and it hardly affected us. Our boss dumps a last-minute project in our lap and we kick the door on the way out of the building that day, considering quitting instead of seeing it as a tremendous opportunity for development.

It's easy to feel captive to our emotions in moments like these, but before you reach for that late-night snack you know you'll regret tomorrow, consider adopting these habits to help you override your impulses.

Related: How to Stop Self-Sabotaging Habits That Are Costing You Time, Money and Happiness

1. Pause before responding

Our brains all have both a subconscious and conscious component. Research indicates that the subconscious part of our brains process information at a rate nearly 1 million times faster than the conscious part of our brains. When we act impulsively, it's usually not our conscious mind that's running the show. It's our speedy subconscious mind that's occupying the driver's seat.

If you want to override your negative impulses, don't make decisions in a hurry. In between all stimuli and our response, there's a space. Within that space lies our power (and freedom) to choose our response. When we give our conscious mind the time and space to weigh in, we often make better decisions. There's a difference between subconsciously reacting and consciously responding. At a minimum, decisions that aren't made hastily but rather with careful thought are often more rational and less emotional. This makes us less likely to regret them later.

When you slow down your thought process and weigh all your options before choosing a response, you'll likely feel more proud of your decisions. If you feel yourself starting to lose emotional control, ask for a break and use the time away to go for a walk, journal or do something you enjoy.

2. Refer back to your goals

Anytime you're about to do something you normally wouldn't, consider your greater goals. Ask yourself: "Does what I'm about to do align with my bigger goals, core values and beliefs?" If not, ask yourself: "Is it worth it?" Asking yourself these questions will uncover places where you're unaligned. Sure, splurging on an incredible summer vacation to Italy would probably be a ton of fun, but it might not be worth putting your homeownership goals at risk. Perhaps you enjoy drinking or smoking, but not enough to break the promise you made yourself to live a healthier life and be a better role model for your kids. This process works most effectively when your biggest life goals are written down and live in a place where you can see them.

It's easier to remember what you said you really want out of life if it's staring you in the face when you sit down at your desk or walk by your bathroom mirror. If what you're abut to impulsively do doesn't align with what's on that paper, ask yourself if you want it badly enough to discard the other things you (probably) want more.

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3. Figure out what the decision is really about

In impulsive moments, it helps to consider your "why." Ask yourself: "Why am I doing this?" When you consider your real motivations, you might discover that your last-minute decision to hit the club with the new group of recently made acquaintances the night before a big work presentation is actually about wanting to fit in and be accepted, or maybe it's a simple distraction from the loneliness you've been experiencing since you broke up with your significant other.

Before exploding on your spouse for not taking out the trash or running the dishes — things that normally wouldn't bother you — asking what your anger is really about might help you discover that you're actually not peeved with them, but instead, feeling unusually stressed about a work deadline or unusually anxious because your sister is coming into town the next day for a weeklong visit. When you pause and check in with yourself, you open the door to learning that what might've (momentarily) seemed like a good idea isn't actually the solution at all. Getting clear with yourself on your real reasons for what you're about to do sometimes unveils hard truths you didn't previously see. These might cause you to make a different decision all together.

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4. Consider alternatives

Anytime you're about to make an impulse decision, take a moment and consider conflicting information. Ask yourself, "what if I don't do this? What then?" Before impulsively dropping thousands on a nonrefundable flight to Tahiti because you just need an immediate vacation, you might consider more cost-effective alternatives, like a road trip to a national park or a Caribbean cruise — things you'd enjoy just as much but cost one-third of the price. Before storming into work and abruptly quitting because of the stress of an impending deadline, you might consider working on your resume and applying elsewhere. Before filing for divorce, you might try talking to your spouse about those dirty dishes in the sink.

When it comes to most decisions, there's almost always an extensive array of others we could make instead. Sure, we might want a vacation or feel frustrated at work, but typically the best decisions we make are the ones where we've considered what else is out there (and then still selected our choice).

By doing these four things before you act impulsively, you ensure that your decisions are ones you can stand by (not just in the moment, but over longer periods of time). You also ensure they align with who you are and where you're headed. People who do these four things before acting impulsively ensure they live a life they're proud of and feel little regret.