CCCXXXIX – Locus of Control

Shortly after my previous article on motivation I happened upon a video that described an Internal and External Locus of Control.

The video described a behavioral experiment on 5th graders. Two groups were asked to complete various puzzles, and afterwards were told that they did a very good job, regardless of actual performance. One group was told they did well because they are so smart. The other group was told that they did well because they worked so hard.

Following this, the two groups were given a set of additional easy, medium, and hard puzzles to complete on their own. The “smart” group spent less time overall on this additional set, and the time they did spend was mostly on the easy puzzles. The “hard working” group spent more time overall on this additional set, and spent most of their time on the hard puzzles—they were also more likely to describe this whole effort as “fun”.

The difference, so the video explained, is between an internal and an external locus of control. The smart kids were given an “external” locus by being told they were smart. Intelligence was a thing that happened to them, and it resulted in decreased motivation and decreased engagement. The hard working kids were given an “internal” locus by being told that they accomplished something on their own effort. This resulted in increased motivation and increased enjoyment in their work.

As adults, a person with an external locus is more likely to complain about things happening to them and make excuses: “I didn’t do the thing because it was raining,” or “I couldn’t finish it because I was too tired.” A person with an internal locus is more likely to be self motivated: “I did the thing because I needed to do it. Yeah it was raining also,” or “I finished it even though I was tired!”

This is pertinent for a couple reasons. First: Our relationship with the world and with God will improve if we train ourselves to have an internal locus of control (it is possible!). Second: we will begin to speak and act and live with more authority and confidence if we adopt an internal locus.

Relationship with God and the world first: part of living a peasant life is being able to say we did our best, and meaning it. God will demand an accounting of every moment of our lives, and we don’t want to rely on God understanding that it was raining and thats why you didn’t do the thing. To do our best, we need an iota of self motivation, and this internal locus of control is a good way of thinking about that. Our relationship with the world will improve because suddenly we will stop thinking of life as things that happen to us, and more as things that we make happen. That is what it means to be in control! We must remember of course that our ability to make things happen is derived from and shares in the creative power of God and ought not be separated from that. So as we rely on God, as we internalize out locus of control, we will begin to see the world in a different, less ominous light.

Second, regarding authority and confidence: The secret to training an internal locus of control is taking a moment to appreciate the hard work we did and acknowledging the fruit of our labors. God did this when he rested on the seventh day and saw that His works were good—you can do it too. Tell yourself that you made this thing happen, that it took your work and effort, and by your work and effort you did it.

This is important because I have been thinking about my struggles managing my sleep, and my struggles with motivation of various varieties. If I wake up late, rather than say “Oh no, I overslept!” Or “oh no, I didn’t hear my alarm!” (Both things that happen to me), if I change my attitude to be “I decided to sleep more” then I am shifting my attitude. I am handling the unpredictable with discrete decisions, rather than reacting to things that happen to me. And if I continue to think and talk in terms of decisions against the unpredictable, then what that looks like is confidence. What looks more confident: “I couldn’t run because it was too hot out” or “I decided not to run.” The same effect happens, but the different attitude changes who is in control. It would be even better to say “I ran even though it was hot out” but even just taking the first step as framing your actions as a positive decision is a good change.

This is further helpful for our relationship to God because at the end of all things, God will surely not be looking for excuses for our actions, but He will look at them as positive decisions. If, God forbid, any of us are called to martyrdom, would it be better to say “they were going to cut my head off so I pinched incense” or “I refused to pinch incense so they cut my head off”.

I am currently a few days in to this effort of brainwashing myself into an internal locus of control. Hopefully the change will become obvious but if not, maybe I will post an update in the future.

I hope this article has been helpful. Please let me know if you have any experience with these ideas.

AMDG

CCCXXXVI – Mastery, Mortification, and Motivation

Self Motivation

Self Motivation says “Push yourself”, and means you can do more than you think you can. Typically you have to push yourself into and through discomfort that helps you grow. A runner must push himself to run the last mile, an entrepreneur must push himself to make those investment pitches, an introvert must push himself to socialize, an extrovert must push himself to introspect. These are examples of telling ourselves “It hurts now, but there’s something better coming! Don’t listen to your mind, body, or instinct–it’s going to be ok.”

Self Mortification

Self mortification says “Deny yourself,” and means you are more comfortable than you ought to be. Typically you have to deny yourself creature comforts that stop you from growing. An overweight person must deny himself food (or certain kinds of food) to achieve a healthy weight, an entrepreneur must deny himself money by investing it into his business, a lazy person must deny himself sleep so he can get things done in the day. These are examples of telling ourselves “It’s going to hurt, but only because it’s different–you’re going to be better off on the other side! Don’t listen to your mind, body, or instinct–you don’t need this.”

Self Mastery

Self Mastery says “Perfect yourself,” and means you make you mind, body, or instinct listen to you and not each other. Typically self mastery involves perfecting skills that help us grow. A runner learns to run faster, or run farther; an entrepreneur learns what parts of the pitch get a positive response; a lazy person learns to wake up at the same time every day and is more productive; an introvert learns not to overthink and enjoy the company of others, an extrovert learns to find peace in silence and solitude. These are examples of telling ourselves “These skills are worthwhile efforts–I want to be better at these skills because they help me to be better. My mind, body, or instinct listen to me better for having these skills–I am a better version of myself.”

Synthesis

Self Motivation is a skill that is trained in the pursuit of Self Mastery. Pushing through discomfort is a worthwhile effort, because there is something better coming. We can tell ourselves its going to be OK because we are adding something that makes us better.

Self Mortification is a skill that is trained in the pursuit of Self Mastery. Denying ourselves comfort is a worthwhile effort, because it hurts us and teaches us that the hurt isn’t so bad. We don’t need those comforts because removing them makes us better.

None of these efforts should be undertaken without commending the effort and our lives into the loving arms of God. It is possible to do these things too much. But for some of us, it doesn’t help to begin a journey by wondering how far is too far–it is better just to start. If you bring God with you, He will guide you.

AMDG

CCCVI – Just Do It

I may have mentioned before that when I encounter something accidentally three times, it’s a sign that I need to pay attention to it. Something that has been popping up a lot lately is this motivational idea of “Just do it”.

The core idea is that you need to stop thinking and start doing. Mark Zuckerberg famously described his entrepreneurial mentality as “move fast and break things”–a call to keep moving, and to be okay with making mistakes. St. Joan of Arc said “Act, and God will act”–a call to do anything and if you do it with God, then God will bring good out of it.

I am a notorious overthinker. When I hear “Just do it” I get frustrated because there’s a million things I could just do, and the things I want to do are different from the things I need to do, and thinking helps me make sure that I am doing effectively–I could go on. When I am told “Just do it” my brain goes into overdrive and I don’t do anything.

Excursus: I don’t know if you all realize this, but I am a hypocrite. The main subject matter of this blog is spiritual, and I write what I hope are encouraging and helpful spiritual things and oftentimes fail to internalize them and live them out. I am a weak, sinful man, and I don’t say this out of faux humility–I write here more often than not the things I wish others would tell me, because I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know how to get to heaven, I know it takes work, and I know I would much rather you all join me there than for me to somehow find my way there on my own. In short: I am a work in progress. I suspect many of you reading this are, too, though no doubt you have a firmer grasp of who you are and what you want than I do sometimes. I write this because it is important context for how I think about motivation and how I think about living our beautiful, wonderful faith. And my thoughts may or may not line up with my words, and both of those may or may not line up with my deeds. It’s just important to point out. I don’t write because I know what I am doing, I am telling you my best guess and I’m hoping you will tell me if my ideas are good or bad.

The source of overthinking–my overthinking anyway–is anxiety and doubt. Am I doing the right thing? or Will it even work? To say Just do it is to ignore a whole encyclopedia of worries that, to my mind at the time, are of equal importance. The cure for overthinking is manifold, but three that come to mind right now are Confidence, Determination, and Discipline.

Confidence is the self-assured state about ones goals and ones ability to reach them. I don’t get anxious about going to the grocery store because I know perfectly well that I have the skills and know how and mental and physical capacity to go to the store, buy what I need to buy, execute the transaction, and go home. I do get anxious about interviews because it is not a sure thing that I have the skills and know how and mental and physical capacity to successfully complete the job. The contrary vice to Confidence is anxiety, because it causes worry about our ability to be accepted. It is a fear of rejection, at it’s root. Saying “Just do it” can help you push past the anxiety but it isn’t a cure for it. Familiarity breeds contempt–some people after pushing past their anxiety will find that there is nothing to fear and everything goes better than expected. Some people might push through and still find that they don’t get the job and still feel rejected. To them, “Just do it” hastened their arrival at rejection, and they will resolve to think more before they “just do” anything.

Determination helps move past this disappointed and rejected feeling stage. This is because determination is the belief that your goals will be achieved. Confidence says your goals are reasonable, Determination says your goals are achievable. It takes no determination to go to the grocery store because I am not experiencing doubt about it, I am not feeling rejected or worried by the goal of getting groceries. I do feel rejected or worried by the goal of getting that job, lets say. If I have just been informed that I did not get the job after that interview I was so anxious about, determination intervenes between me and disappointment and looks to the next interview. “Just do it” can help push past the disappointment and get to determination–it won’t cure disappointment but might help prevent feeling rejected and despondent.

Discipline is the name for this whole cycle of confidence and determination in the face of rejection and disappointment. Discipline is what people mean when they say “keep going”–just do the same thing tomorrow. You might be anxious, but push past it and have confidence. You might get rejected, but push past it and have determination. What helps make all of this possible is a specific goal that you are motivated to achieve, that acts as a sun just below the horizon, and a few more steps will get you sight of the dawn.

The sum of all your goals and ambitions ought to be Heaven. All your worries, disappointments, confidences, and determination should be in the direction of Heaven.

If you are not an overthinker like I am, this is a lot of words to say something very simple: Just do it. If you are an overthinker like I am, this is a lot of words that helps make sense of what “just do it” actually means. God willing it actually helps. God willing, it will actually help me, too.

AMDG