Internal Locus of Control: Good or Bad?

Look at the picture. Isn’t Superman a prime example of internal locus of control? You don’t see Superman throwing his hands in the air and sighing ‘I sure wish I could save the world, but hey, it’s a pretty complex task’.

A colleague who works with criminals as a therapist, had a difficult week last week. One of his clients murdered someone. And this, understandably, upset him very badly. He felt he should have seen it coming. In the last Continue reading

The Dalai Lama’s Thinking Style

By Rolf Scheerder

When the Dalai Lama visited the Netherlands, 48 thousand people came to him in the Ahoy stadium in Rotterdam. The ideas the Dalai Lama teaches people all over the world are impressive. He made me curious: what meta programs does this inspiring leader use when he speaks about his beliefs?

I noted down the most obvious meta programs. I list them here,  in the order of their intensity. After each meta program I copied (in quotes) some phrases the Dalai Lama used.

  1. First I noticed that everything the Dalai Lama shared is coming from an internal reference.
  2. Concept: “At the smallest level of matter there is nothing, externally there is only mental projection. Time exists by virtue of past and future, the present consists by virtue of mental projection. Matter at an absolute level does not exist, neither does consciousness (this idea about matter is a concept from quantum physics that was already known 2000 years ago by Buddhist monks).There are four Noble Truths.
    First there is the truth of the basis, the cause, that leads us to happiness and suffering.
    Second there is the truth of stopping the suffering,
    Third there is the truth of practicing the path (emptiness) that leads us to the stopping.
    Fourth is the truth of the state of lasting happiness.
  3. Structure: “’Cause’ versus ‘result’ and ‘suffering’ versus ‘happiness’ are interdependent; 4 values, 16 principles, two truths, two levels, three main issues… Understand that interdependencies without dependencies cannot exist. Violence exists only due to the concept of ‘we’ versus ‘them’; thinking about what is good for us without thinking about what is good for others.”
  4. Reactive: “My philosophy: teaching Buddhism based on the principal acceptance of spiritual messages. Not just out of devotion, first analyse what is said.”
  5. A bit of proactive behaviour was visible when the Dalai Lama helped the presenter getting the microphone in the right position. The Dalai Lama shows a lot of humor, he won’t hesitate to say something funny, even when this might confront the sensitivities of the person concerned. So he invited his female guest of the day, a well-known politician, to sit in his chair because of the size of her body.
  6. Towards: “Get ahead by practicing the path, pursue happiness.“ “Practice basic understanding, find out the causes of suffering, then practice the path, it leads to a state of liberty.”
  7. Some ‘Away from’ in mentioning: “Avoid negativity.”
  8. Procedure: “Every day I get up at 3.30 am, then I do meditation, then I listen to the BBC radio and analyse the news. My daily rhythm goes on till 6.30 pm, then I go to sleep.” “Mentally I easily adjust to different time zones, physically it is more difficult.”
  9. Options: “From my fourth birthday on, I had to learn rituals. I am through with rituals, better go to the core of our thinking.”
  10. Matching: “The cause of suffering is ignorance, everything is an idea based on something else, everything is based on interdependence. Many governments are developed more, and there are still many problems caused by mankind. Action depends on the right motivation and that comes through awareness.”
  11. Mismatching: “There is a global lack of moral ethics, which argues for a secular ethics.” (coming back to matching).
  12. Internal locus of control: “We are the cause of our suffering, by ignorance. Two levels: first not understanding how things work versus having inner peace, second stick to the self as an absolute existence. As sticking to an absolute enemy, it causes anger and 90 % of anger comes from projection.”
  13. People: “Have great compassion for all living beings, free them from suffering.”
  14. Information: “Learn from all religions, schools, quantum physics. Know what you believe in.  Accept information only after your own analysis. Understanding, knowledge is essential. To relax I read the works of great masters of Nalanda.”
  15. Activity: “It comes down to investing.”
  16. General: “7 Billion people are physically, emotionally, mentally the same, a whole. Buddhism does not believe in creation, the world was already there.”
  17. Change: “In the cause of liberation, focus on the suffering. In the cause of enlightenment, focus on the suffering of others.”
  18. Past: “Explained by insights.”
  19. Present: “Be conscious.”
  20. Kinesthetic: “We have to learn to deal with our own emotions, children in basic education, devotion, compassion, love, tolerance. Things that matter exists not by objectivity.”

Striving for goals or steering clear of problems?

“Thinking Styles are subconscious mental-emotional filters that determine what you attend to, what you sort for, and what you respond to in life. These patterns identify how you process information and what motivates you to act.”Coaching In the Workplace, Tim Hallbom and Nick LeForce

Our Intention with this blog is to give you some experience with each of the different Thinking Styles that MindSonar™ measures, and how you can learn to easily integrate them in any setting, whether it be personal or professional. Each week you will learn all of the different Thinking Styles in depth.Continue reading

Optimal Mindset for Project Management

A video about Dutch MindSonar professional Rien van Leeuwen, who did an interesting MindSonar project with project managers. Combining MindSonar with his own questionnaire about Human Success Factors, Rien looked for connections between meta programs and success factors. He identified two patterns that are involved in successful projects. In the video, Rien describes his research.

Poland Certification Training – Slide Show

Tomek Zawadzki did it again: the second MindSonar Certification Training started in Poland in June. It was taught by Jennet Burghard, an esteemed member of the MindSonar Experts Committee in the Netherlads. Jennet is also a very lively and people oriented trainer. A professional photographer recorded the training. Watch the slide show, and you will get a feeling for the open learning atmosphere that Jennet and the participants created in this CT.

 

Patricia’s Thinking Style Examples

Patricia Jiménez, from Peru, came up with some great examples of Thinking Styles in quotes. She gracefully agreed to share them with you all.

Proactive – Acting quickly.
“You got a dream… You gotta protect it. People can’t do something’ themselves, they wanna tell you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it.”
(Will Smith; Movie: The Pursuit of Happiness).

Reactive – Contemplating.
“The wise never says everything he thinks, but always thinks everything he says”.
(Aristotle)

Towards – Achieving Goals.
“A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding”
(Walt Disney)

“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.”
(Henry Ford)

Away from – Avoiding Problems.
“The formulation of the problem is often more essential than its solution”
(Albert Einstein)

“The world is not all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.”
(Silvester Stallone; Movie: Rocky Balboa)

Internally Referenced – Own standards.
“Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something. Not even me.”
(Will Smith, Movie: The Pursuit of Happiness)

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn”.
(Quote of the movie: Gone with the Wind)

Externally Referenced – Other’s standards.
“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get to other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”
(Henry Ford)

Options – See possibilities.
“When you think all is lost, do not forget that you still have the future your brain, your will and two hands to change your fate.”
(Werner von Braun)

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
(Winston Churchill)

Procedures – Step by step.
“Whom do I call educated? First, those who manage well the circumstances they encounter day by day. Next, those who are decent and honorable in their intercourse with all men.”
(Socrates)

“I suppose my formula might be: dream, diversify and never miss an angle.”
(Walt Disney)

General – Large Panorama.
“I could never convince the financiers that Disneyland was feasible, because dreams offer too little collateral.”
(Walt Disney)

Specific – Focusing on details.
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
(Bruce Lee)

“Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”
(Aristotle)

Matching – Meeting the criteria.
“It’s the choices that make us who we are, and we can always choose to do what’s right.”
(Quote of the movie: Spiderman 3)

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities”.
(Nelson Mandela)

Mismatching – Not meeting the criteria.
“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
(Albert Einstein)

“You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”
(Abraham Lincoln)

Internal Locus of Control – Being in control.
“If you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you!”
(Silvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa)

“It’s the niceties that make the difference, fate gives us the hand, and we play the cards.”
(Arthur Schopenhauer)

External Locus of Control – Others are in control.
“My momma always said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”
(Movie: Forest Gump)

“I expected to do better but the weights were too heavy.”
(Manuel Mingifnel, weight lifter)

Maintenance – Stability .
“There are men who struggle for a day, and they are good. There are others who struggle for a year, and they are better. There are some who struggle many years, and they are better still. But there are those who struggle all their lives, and these are the indispensable ones.”
(Bertolt Brecht)

Development – Growth
“It is no use to man lament the times in which he lives . The only good thing you can do is try to improve.”
(Thomas Carlyle Historian, English essayist and thinker)

“Whenever I go on a ride, I’m always thinking of what’s wrong with the thing and how it can be improved.”
“I learned that the hard part is not getting to the top, but never stop rising”.
(Walt Disney)

“Blessed are those who are at the bottom of the well because from then on forward can only be improving.”
(Joan Manuel Serrat)

Change – Radical change.
“I can never stand still. I must explore and experiment. I am never satisfied with my work. I resent the limitations of my own imagination.”
(Walt Disney)

“If you want to change the world, start with yourself.”
(Mahatma Gandhi)

Sorting by People
“The workers in mainland China and inside the Disney park, their salaries are very low and the work days are very long.
(Walt Disney)

Sorting by Activity
“Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect.”
(Leonardo Da Vinci)

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering – these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love – these are what we stay alive for.”
(Robin Williams)

Sorting by Information
“I come from a world full of roads, mountains, jungle, sea, meadow and sand. I have a thirst for peace, so infinite! Do me a love nest for my grief.”
(Atahualpa Yupanqui. Argentine writer)

a. Concept b. Structure c. Use
“I went to the woods because I wished to live consciously, I wanted to live fully and extract the essence of life. Forget everything out of life, so i won’t find out in death, that i had not lived.”
(The club Dead Poets Society)

Together
“We deliver what was expected of us. People did not think we were going to permeate as a whole as fast as we have done”
(Kevin Durant, basketball gold in the United States and top scorer of the tournament with 156 points)

Proximity
“I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.”
(Nelson Mandela)

Solo
“I am now a legend.”
(Usain Bolt (Jamaica, Athletics), after winning the gold in the 100 and 200 meters)

“The strategy worked. I wanted it to gold, that was my goal”.
(Arthur Zanetti (Brazil, gymnastics) , after winning the first gold in history to the Latin American gymnastics)

Past
“I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.”
(Abraham Lincoln)

“Every piece of land , is sacred to my people , every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods , every meadow , every insect in its buzz. All are holy in the memory and in the experience of my people.”
(Head of the Tribe Suwamixh XIX)

Present
“If you are attentive to the present, the past will not distract you, then you’ll be always new.”
(Facundo Cabral, Singer songwriter)

Future
“After all, tomorrow is another day.”
(Scarlett O’Hara, movie: Gone with the Wind)

Visual
“I see little commercial potential for the internet for the next 10 years.”
(Bill Gates)

“I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy”.
(Martin Luther King)

Auditory
“Listening to the past: towards a social history of popular music.“
(Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean Spain and Portugal. Scientific Information System)

Kinesthetic
“I’ve been grateful my whole life to my father for teaching me to do physical work since childhood. My learning in infancy has been useful later more than once.”
(Aleksandr Kotov)

“People experiencing strong internal emotions are less vulnerable to external pain.”
(John Seymour)