This is where training is so valuable.  Since self-control is reactive, it can be learned and developed by responding to outside stimuli.  Following instructions and responding to commands helps develop self-control.  Being reminded when your attention wanders and pulling yourself back into the moment helps develop self-control.  Being told to focus, concentrate, and correct errant actions helps develop self-control.  And gradually, through a process the Japanese call Shin-Ku-I (body - mouth - mind) these reactions to external stimuli become internalized.  Week after week, month after month, adults and children alike are increasingly able to control their own behavior because they eventually develop habit patterns from reacting to the instructions and correction of sensei and sempai.

Perhaps this is why self-control is addressed last in the Dojo Kun, although in most respects it is addressed and achieved first in our training.  It is the element of mental training that we will have to devote the least attention to.  It will, for the most part, be forced upon us as a by-product of our training regimen in the dojo.  The other aspects of the Dojo Kun -- character development, respect, discipline, righteousness, and perseverance -- are all ultimately personal choices that others can do little to effectuate.  And they can be faked.  If we are so inclined, we can talk the talk without walking the walk when it comes to these other parts of the Dojo Kun.  But, self-control is purely an outward manifestation.  If you can't stop yourself from misbehaving everyone can see it.

There is little in modern American society that promotes self-control.  Celebrities make headlines almost daily for acting without self-control, and they are rarely punished sufficiently for it to curtail their behavior.  The less self-control they exhibit, the more they seem to be idolized. We are encouraged to spend our money without self-control, to display our emotions without self-control, to eat without self-control, and to "party" without self-control.  In a society that labels self-control as "boring" and equates misbehavior with fun and excitement, there are few incentives to practice self-control outside the dojo.

Only 16% of all people will achieve more than average success.  Look at the character traits of those who are able to sustain a successful life, and you will find that nearly all of them achieve are able to do so through self-control and discipline.  The celebrities who make headlines with their misbehavior rarely achieve lasting success.  Instead, they are flashes in the pan, rising quickly to fame, then fading from the limelight just as quickly.  Lasting success -- by whatever measurement you choose to define success -- requires self-control and discipline.  If you want to have any hope of achieving a life of value to yourself or others, you must establish a foundation for success on self-control.