Locus of Control – A Core Limiting Belief

Although the ‘Locus of Control‘ sounds rather technical, it is in fact a rather straightforward concept.

It is a ‘measure’ of how much ‘power’ (or influence) you believe you have over the path of your life, or the outcomes in your life.

Your Locus of Control is either ‘internal’, ‘external’ or at some point in between the these two extremes.

If you have in ‘external’ Locus of Control then you will tend to believe that:

Life is something that HAPPENS to you over which you have little ability to control or change things

If you have an ‘internal’ Locus of Control you will tend to believe that:

Life is what you MAKE IT and that you decide the path of your life and are able to control and change things

What research shows is that people who have an internal Locus of Control tend to be happier, more successful and less likely to suffer from psychosomatic problems.

You can read much more about the Locus of Control and Rotter’s original research here.

Internal LOC

• I failed my driving test because I made an error
• I can beat my phobia of flying if I try hard enough
• Other people’s opinions are valid but do not affect my life
• If I wanted to run a marathon and trained enough I could do it
• Things that happened to me in the past are gone and have no influence now

External LOC

• I failed my driving test because the examiner didn’t like me
• Phobias can never be changed, just learnt to live with
• Other people’s opinions significantly affect my life
• I could never run a marathon, I’d never get fit enough
• Things that happened to me in the past continue to dominate my life everday