"Just as it may be easier to ban nuclear weapons from the battlefield in toto than through carefully graduated specifications on their use, zero is a more enforceable limit on cigarettes or chewing gum than some flexible quantitative ration," Schelling wrote.
For those who cannot face the prospect of an eternity without a favorite indulgence, there is the strategy of delay. Rather than resolving to go without, you give yourself permission to smoke or drink or eat chocolate again within a specified time -- say, three hours -- after deciding to go off the wagon. Like having to go out to buy supplies, this allows time to resolve not to indulge.
A twist lets the newly resolute self reset the clock at any time. "I have spoken to distance runners who, as exhaustion approaches, pick their stopping places a mile in advance, with the rule that any place more distant can be picked at any time before they reach the current target, and once picked even by the most fleeting resolve it becomes controlling," Schelling wrote, wryly noting that it is not always obvious which self should be in control.
"I think I know whose side I'm on, and I'm sorry for him," he said.
A slight variation allows a third "self" to mediate between the two in conflict by enforcing a prearranged deal: the chance to sleep late at the price of skipping TV at night, for instance, or a new dress in exchange for losing 10 pounds.
This system works, however, only on two conditions: The incentives have to be strong enough. And, Schelling wrote, "the `someone' who wants to turn off his alarm with his eyes closed has to believe that another `somebody' will later have the fortitude to administer the punishment or deny the reward, when `they' are really all the same person."
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