Derek Thompson

All the good things seem to happen to people with an internal locus of control.

Now, what's really surprising

is that even for the people who have every right to say that I'm downtrodden, that I'm discriminated against, that I'm at the bottom of the socioeconomic strata, all those things could be true.

Even for those people, believing you have an internal locus of control still helps you do better.

That's profound.

Knowing that society and your default, even more important than what society tells you, of course, there's lots of interests that want to tell you that you're powerless.

The media feeds you fear because fear sells.

Evolutionarily, nice things are good.

Bad things can kill you.

So we have this negativity bias.

The media doesn't tell us what we need to know.

The media tells us

what we are entertained by, what's enticing, what captures our attention, what scares us.

That's why we keep tuning in.

So being aware of our own cognitive bias, that we all have this negativity bias, that we all have this penchant for retreat into passivity, and actively fighting it wherever we see it to increase our sense of agency, to ask ourselves, what is in my control in this situation?

What can I handle?

And what is outside of my control?

And I'm not going to worry about the stuff that I can't control.

I'm going to focus on what zone of influence can I make a difference in?

How can I help my family, my community, my people I see every day versus can I help with some war that's thousands of miles away and I can't do anything about it?