Everyday I see so many studies on meditation. These include all types (mindfulness, TM, etc..). The studies only report positive results. Meditation has been purported to increase self-control and willpower. But it seems that implementation intentions combined with mental contrasting would be better. Implementation intentions take the following form: "If I encounter situation X then I will do this." Mental contrasting sets the future goal with the current obstacles and creates an "energization." So it seems that this intervention (MCII) would be better than meditation by itself.
The reason I ask is I have been meditating for a month and have not noticed changes in my self-control. It seems that the so-called benefits of meditation could all be part of a placebo effect.