locus of control

#1 · September 5, 2020, 4:33 am

Brian Tracey says that people with an external locus of control feel helpless, are sadder, get angry more easily, and are more prone to depression.

Tracey’s intuition is confirmed by psychologist Martin Seligman: people with an external locus of control are more likely to fall into “learned helplessness” after just a few failed attempts at whatever task they’re working on.

On the other hand, people with an internal locus of control are confident, energetic and optimistic.

They even tend to be healthier!

I was thinking that in some cases being able to change the locus of control at will may be useful. Like if something bad happen and you are prone to guilt, move it a little more to the external side of the continuum to reduce guilt, yet in the present moment keeping it closer to the internal pole to take action and execute damage control.

Dont know if this is possible of if it makes some sense.

Low value men have an external locus of control.

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#2 · September 5, 2020, 6:12 am

Yes, locus of control is huge in self-development and personal empowerment.

I agree with you that there can be an "unhealthy" version of locus of control. That happens when personal responsibility for controlling everything turns into blame and guilt when things don't go your way.

We were talking about this with John in a very interesting thread some time ago.
He favored the mindset of "extreme ownership", taking responsibility for everything, while I don't think that's realistic and one should accept randomness in life, so I was more for a "do your best in any situation (extreme ownership for what you can control), and then what happens happens (acceptance of the final results and what's not in your control)".

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#3 · September 9, 2020, 2:13 pm

Not accepting what's not in my control ruined my life. In its extreme, It's like PTSD. Zero self-compassion, I thought all was my fault. Even other people's stupidity... Be simply proactive, stop trying to be god.

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#4 · September 9, 2020, 9:20 pm

Quote from lazzzz on September 9, 2020, 2:13 pm

Not accepting what's not in my control ruined my life. In its extreme, It's like PTSD. Zero self-compassion, I thought all was my fault. Even other people's stupidity... Be simply proactive, stop trying to be god.

Thank you for sharing, lazzzz.
That's a big risk for every driven folks, and one of the reasons why I agree that the stoic acceptance of what you can't control seems a best overall option to me.

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