The "licensing effect"

One of the interesting things I have learned about through reading about willpower is the psychological phenomenon of "moral licensing". In simple terms this tells us that when we do "good" things, we will feel we have permission to something "bad". It might be as simple as when we have done some exercise that we feel we can justify eating something unhealthy.
The following short youtube clip from Gretchin Rubin explains it well - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooa3w1o98Rg
I find this happens to me all the time. And it is part of the danger of focussing too much on how many days we have gone without PMO. In the longer video clip below (about 25 min long) Kelly McGonigal explains that we should keep focussed on the goal rather than what we have done so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbjjIId54g8
I would love to hear what you think about the idea, and how you deal with it in your noFap journey.

 

Thanks for your comments yorrick.
I think what you say is both valid and interesting. However I think there are many ways that we can progress our nofap objectives. I have found that what works at one time may not work at other times. Sometimes it helps to focus on the positive and things that make life more interesting. But at other times when temptations hit hard and fast, there is a need to just grit my teeth and make it through the temptation. At those times distraction and diversion seem to be the only thing that works.
One of the things I have learned is that it helps to have many tactics available to draw upon. We need to keep our recovery programmes alive and fresh, because if we become complacent we are on a sure path to relapsing.