Are You Lucky or Good? How To Determine Your Locus of Control

I recently learned about the idea of Locus of Control. This is a psychological term for how people view events that happen in their lives. It mostly pertains to how people interpret their successes and failures. According to Richard Joelson in Psychology Today: “If a person has an internal locus of control, that person attributes success to his or her own efforts and abilities. A person who expects to succeed will be more motivated and more likely to learn. A person with an external locus of control, who attributes his or her success to luck or fate, will be less likely to make the effort needed to learn.”¹

External Locus of Control

This might be a stretch for some, but bear with me as I run through some examples. First, think of the Marvel character Domino (played by Zazie Beetz). Domino’s main mutant power is luck, as shown in these clips from Deadpool 2 (Warning: language, violence, blah blah blah):

This is a funny example of the extreme of external locus. Everything that happens to her seems to be the world bending to accommodate her. Importantly, her interpretation of this is that she’s just lucky, not that she herself is responsible for all the amazing things the universe provides. The other side of this external locus coin is when someone fails repeatedly and they view themselves as a victim of circumstances instead of being self-reflective to suss out what they could do differently. It’s as if the world is continuously conspiring against them.

Internal Locus of Control

Then there are those who have an internal locus. These folks believe they have the capacity to shape events and control their destiny through effort and action. This is often a trait found among the highest of achievers in their fields.

I’m reminded of a quote from President Obama during his 2012 campaign speech: “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.” This was famously plucked from a larger speech about the great American system that enables success by providing things like roads, bridges, and education. His opponent’s campaign plucked this little quote out to rile up business owners and entrepreneurs. However, the fact of the matter is that the president’s intent was correct. Successes are not entirely solo acts. Hard-charging, internal locus-types would be wise to remember that there are a lot of circumstances, largely outside of their control, that mostly went right when they succeed.

Takeaways

Joelson writes as if those who have an internal locus are more favorable than their external locus counterparts. I tend to agree to a point, but all is not lost if you’re unhappy with your lot (spoken like a real internal locus jerk, right?). I think the awareness of these personality types can be useful. If you can identify which type you are, you can better anticipate how you will react in the future and help course-correct to a more favorable result.

For me, as someone with an internal locus, I can remember that it isn’t entirely my doing when I succeed or fail at something. This realization should help foster a little bit more gratitude to the circumstances that allowed me to succeed. It should also help blunt the sting of failure. Maybe I can go ten percent easier on myself. For those who might have a more external locus, this self-awareness might help spur them to take more ownership over successes and failures.

How would you characterize yourself?

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¹ Joelson, Richard; “Locus of Control: How do we determine our successes and failures?”; Psychology Today; https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/moments-matter/201708/locus-control.