The Key to Taking Charge of Your Life – Locus of Control

Everyone wants the secret key to taking charge of your life. Few know it lies inside their own mindset.

Think about something significant you achieved in the past few years. Who was responsible for it? Who created it?

Now think of something that sucks, the bad thing, that you want to change in life. Who created it?

As strange as it may sound, chances are, many of us think that the bad situations we face are created by other people, fate, or luck.

The key to taking charge of your life lies inside your own mindset. It is all about your locus of control. Here’s how:

External ‘Locus of Control’

People with external locus of control believe that adverse situations are not in their control. They give excuses, blame other people, luck, or fate for the bad things happening to them. What they don’t realize is that by placing the locus of control on external things, they are giving their power away.

While holding yourself responsible may seem hard at first, it will bring immense freedom in the long run. This is the key to taking charge of your life.

With Great Responsibility Comes Great Power!

Because once you realize that you’re writing your life story every day with your thoughts, actions, and where you focus your attention – you’ll feel immensely powerful, because now you can change that story by making conscious decisions and moving in the direction that you want.

“I have studied the patterns of the universe. There’s a redemptive power that making a choice has, rather than feeling like you’re at effect to all the things that are happening. Make a choice. You just decide what it’s gonna be, who you’re gonna be, you just decide. And then from that point the universe is going to get out your way. It’s water, it wants to move and go around stuff.” – Will Smith

Internal Locus of Control

With internal locus of control, your life events occur as the direct result of your actions. Your emotions, mindset, opportunities, disappointments, rewards, and setbacks are your own creation.

This is called full ownership. You are completely responsible for your life and if anything undesirable happens, you take decisive action to change it.

The Veteran Who Swears by Extreme Ownership

Jocko Willink, a retired Navy SEAL and commander of SEAL team 3, controlled SEAL operations during the battle of Ramadi in the Iraq war. He swears by the term “extreme ownership” and has written a New York Times bestselling book on the same subject.

According to Willink, when things are tough, it is easy to blame others and find excuses. But in such times, we need to keep our ego in check and take full responsibility for what is happening in our life.

If you think bad things happen to you because of external circumstances – other people or some supernatural force – you are giving your power away.

How to Take Full Ownership and Elevate Your Life to the Next Level

Identify The Problem

Now that you know that you can create life on your own terms, think of something you really want to change for the better. It can be finding a new job, a new relationship that fulfills you, or taking care of your health and building a great physique.

Set Goals

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. – Tony Robbins

Once you’ve identified what you want to change, set a goal.

Make the goal realistic in the short-term. For example, if you want to find a high-paying job, start with a small goal of completing an online course that will improve your skills by, say, 30%.

Enjoy the Flow

Once you start working on your goals, the process itself will be so exhilarating that after sometime, you’ll be able to see yourself winning in your mind. This forward momentum will provide you endless motivation and you’ll learn to enjoy taking charge of your life.

Final Thoughts

Taking charge of your life seems hard at first, but once you take full responsibility and reclaim your own power, it is the most wonderful thing you can experience in life. The life changes that were out of your reach earlier – now become your reality – as soon as you commit to them.

In the end it’s better to take charge and create a life worth living than live your life being passive, hurting inside, and finding excuses for what’s not working out in your life.