Impulsive People: 7 Traits And Characteristics

The most problematic thing about impulsive people is that they waste their true potential and erode their relationships with others for inconsequential reasons. Their lack of foresight also leads them to miss out on valuable opportunities.

More than a way of being, what impulsive people have is a lack of emotional education. We all come into the world being more or less impulsive, but with life and over time we learn to guide and control these tendencies.

Impulsiveness is also a habit  of conduct. People get used to acting this way and then have to go through a whole process to rearrange their reactions. In addition, this trait is always accompanied by other characteristics, among which the following stand out.

1. They have a low tolerance for frustration

Impulsive people tend to seek  quick rewards. They have a hard time tolerating the partial frustration of waiting. They need the results or benefits to be seen soon; otherwise, they become restless or despairing and give up.

Much of the most valuable in life is done step by step. Great works, strong ties, or greatest finds don’t happen overnight. That is why impulsive people can lose the opportunity to go further in everything, due to their desire to go faster.

2. Impulsive people tend to procrastinate

It is paradoxical, but the desire to achieve everything quickly leads impulsive people to procrastinate  frequently. If an activity, a task or a project is tedious for them, they will not endure the emotional tension that this implies. Therefore, they leave it for later.

In many cases, procrastination increases the difficulty of the obstacles they have to overcome. For example, by postponing a procedure in time, they lose the opportunity to do it online or to benefit from some type of discount. On the other hand, they often get angry with themselves when they are aware of the consequences of their passivity.

3. They engage in compensatory behaviors

Compensatory behaviors are actions aimed at releasing the anxiety that is experienced. This is done in a self-reflective , automatic and immediate way. Such behaviors often have a self-destructive component.

For example, compulsive eating, touching hair (or pulling it out), walking from one place to another, moving the legs, etc. The goal of these actions is to try to dissipate anxiety, but this is often unsuccessful and instead causes additional harm.

4. They go easily from anger to aggressiveness.

People who are carried away by impulsivity are very given to anger. This is usually the result of the frustration that arises from not getting what they want immediately. However, in this case anger is not tolerated or controlled either.

It is very common for these types of people to easily go from irritability to anger and from anger to aggressive behaviors. Ingredients that add to your external communication, but also to your internal dialogue.

5. They are not very assertive

While it is very difficult for these people to control themselves, it is also common for them to speak without thinking and say or not say what they really want to express. What prevails is impatience and this leads to exhibiting little assertive communication.

In particular, those who are impulsive can be very hurtful in their angry and aggressive moments. They attend more to their momentary desire to bring out their annoyance than to the purpose of having constructive relationships with others.

6. They get frustrated frequently

To the extent that many of their plans and projects are short-lived, it is not uncommon for impulsive people to experience frustration. They do not carry out what they propose and do not carry out projects in the medium or long term.

That immediacy leads them to trivial or short-lived achievements. For the same reason, they are likely to be dissatisfied with what they achieve and insist on achieving more. Their way of doing things prevents them from going further.

7. They tend to be confrontational

All of the above makes impulsive people more likely to have conflictive relationships with others. Their lack of control in the face of anger may lead them to say or do something that they later regret. Impulsiveness causes them to quit a job in a moment of impatience or break up with their partner when they didn’t want to. Then they will try to remedy what has been done, but this is not always possible.

Impulsive people are victims of themselves. Perhaps in childhood they did not acquire a good foundation for emotional management; however, we all have the option to strengthen this weakness in our roots as adults. However, for that we will also need to take it as a goal and work on it consciously.