Derek Thompson

So that whispering voice telling us about our limitations, that culture that perpetuates do less, it's not gonna work, you've got no control, the things are controlling you, this leads us to what we call an external locus of control.

An external locus of control is when you believe that events happen to you based on outside circumstances.

versus an internal locus of control says that things that happen to me are because I do them.

Now, here's the kicker.

We know that people with an internal locus of control do better in almost every conceivable metric.

They make more money, they have more friends, they contribute more to the community.

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.