Are You in Charge of Your Life? (Part 1)

Throughout history and across cultures there has been much thought and debate about to what extent people are in charge of their own destiny and to what extent people’s situations are determined by outside forces.  There is some evidence on both sides, and the answer is likely somewhere in the middle.  Interestingly, one of the most important determinants of how well someone does in life is whether or not they think they are in control of what happens to them.  

Photo source: https://www.northwoodsranchandretreat.com/locus-of-control/

Why might this be?  People who believe that they can control what happens to them are more likely to take action to change their situation because they believe that they have that capability, while those who believe that their lives are determined by external forces are less likely to take those actions because they do not believe that their choices can have an effect (source ).

An example of this is two students who are worried about a math test this week.  The student who believes that outside sources mainly affect what is going on in their lives (known has having an external locus of control) may worry about the exam but not put much effort into studying because they believe they will fail the test anyway.  The student who believes they can affect the outcome of the situation (known as having an internal locus of control) is more likely to study because they believe that they can affect what kind of grade they get.  Now, the person who does not study may not fail, and the person who studies is not guaranteed to pass, but repeating these patterns over a lifetime puts the person with an internal locus of control in a better position than the person with an external locus of control.

Where do you think your locus of control is located?  You can take the official test here. 

What do you think of your results, and how do you think your way of seeing the world in this way has impacted your life so far?

There is so much to explore on this topic, which is why I am creating a second part to this post, which will explore why we develop the locus of control that we do, and what we can do to change it so we feel more in control of our lives.