Washington, March 8 (IANS) Self-control freaks burn out the fastest, challenging the popular notion that they get the job done well, says a new study.

These freaks tend to use all of their resources at once – concentrating intently on the task immediately at hand – but are stymied when unexpected challenges are thrown their way.

The research by Danit Ein-Gar of Tel Aviv University (TAU) Graduate School of Business Administration, offers us tips to help us stay at the top of our game. And the good news is there’s no need to be a ‘control freak’.

With her co-author Yael Steinhart of Haifa University, Ein-Gar is investigating multi-tasking control freaks. Ein-Gar quantified this surprising finding in a new series of studies presented last year at the Society for Consumer Psychology in San Diego.

‘The general notion is that we all have a pool of resources available for different tasks,’ says Ein-Gar.

‘Stamina is like a muscle, but it’s not an endless resource. Our new research shows how our personal, work-related resources can be measured and our on-the-job performance improved,’ Ein-Gar adds.

In new experiments and surveys, Ein-Gar found that people who define themselves as high in self-control are in fact the least able to manage their own internal resources in situations which are very important to them. They burn out quickly when flooded with unexpected challenges.

‘They tend to invest all their energy at once and are then left with insufficient resources for additional tasks,’ says Ein-Gar, who used shopping as a way to measure the effect.

Analysing results from hundreds of volunteers, she found that when high self-control people went shopping at a grocery store they were far more impulsive than those who defined themselves as low in self-control.

Most surprisingly, high in self-control people made more spontaneous purchases at the checkout counter without regard to price.

According to surveys Ein-Gar conducted afterwards, such people ‘didn’t foresee certain events like having to wait in line. It’s the same in the workplace when the boss hands out a major assignment moments just before quitting time’.

But maintaining energy and avoiding burn-out can be done with a little altering of one’s mindset, Ein-Gar counsels, says a TAU release.

Those who think like marathon runners – who start slow but pace themselves – are better able to keep their energy tanks full, unlike a sprinter who gives all his effort at once.