Here’s something I firmly believe

Life gets a whole lot better when you focus on what you can control…and let go of what you can’t.

It sounds simple, but once you really start practicing it, everything feels a little lighter, a little clearer.

I’ve believed this for a long time, but a few months ago I listened to a podcast that reinforced it in a powerful way. The episode from Psychology Unplugged introduced something called the “locus of control.”

If you haven’t heard that phrase before, here’s what it means:

Your locus of control is how much you believe you’re in charge of your life, despite outside factors.

Here’s why locus of control matters (a lot!)

As it turns out, your locus of control - essentially, how you view YOUR control of your life - is predictive of your well-being, satisfaction, and performance.

In fact, studies have shown that:

“Individuals who believe that an event is dependent on their own behavior/personality also tend to have greater confidence in their own competencies and a greater ability to keep focused on (boring/difficult) tasks, even in the presence of distractions (i.e., perseverance).” (Source)

and

“Individuals with higher self-esteem, higher life satisfaction, and higher optimism had a higher propensity to believe that an event was dependent on their own behavior/personality rather than a result of chance, or under the control of others.” (Source)

A mindset of “I control my life” = higher self-esteem, higher life satisfaction, greater confidence

So how do we use this at work?

Let’s say you’re struggling with your manager.

• Someone with an external locus might say: “My boss is awful. This is never going to work.”
• Someone with an internal locus might say: “My boss isn’t great, but I can figure out how to work with them and find other ways to get support.”

Same situation. Different reaction and next steps!

The more you believe you’re in control, the more you take action. You don’t wait around. You don’t get stuck feeling resentment or frustration.