Years ago, I was staying in a hotel near the airport in anticipation of an early morning flight the next day. The hotel had an alarm clock in the room, and, being an independent type, I decided to set the alarm myself rather than bother the staff member at the front desk for a wake-up call.

This was before the days of wide spread cell phones, when nightstands in hotels often had clock radios with built-in alarms. This episode happened so long ago, in fact, that a person needed to talk with another human person in order to check in and out of the hotel!

Setting my own alarm clock really was an effort to be independent and not bother the hotel staff. But if I were to be completely honest, my thinking was not only sparing work for the hotel clerk. I believe part of my motivation was control, to…