“If a black cat crosses your path, it signifies that the animal is going somewhere.”
—Groucho Marx
In a few days it will be Friday the 13th, which folklore suggests is a day of bad luck. According to a Gallup poll, roughly 1 in 4 Americans are superstitious with that number being higher among those under the age of 30 and lower for those over the age of 65.
I'm sure most of you have some rituals or superstitions you hold dear, like wearing a favorite pair of shorts for race day or kissing someone at midnight on New Year's Eve.
Good luck rituals are huge in sports - Michael Jordan wore his college shorts underneath his Bulls/Wizards shorts, Serena Williams always bounces the ball 5 times before her first serve and Rafeal Nadal takes a cold shower 45 minutes before every match.
Fun fact: When I was in 1st grade I was on a bowling team (I know...and you thought I couldn't get any cooler) and I would sing "Kumbaya, My Lord" to myself with each approach. Was it helpful? Who knows...but I did nail some pretty challenging splits.
While superstitions like spilling salt and stepping over cracks on the sidewalk are pretty harmless, the root of superstitious behavior isn't always quite as innocuous.
To be superstitious is to hold beliefs as truth with false notions of causation. It creates a pattern of attributing our successes and/or failures to luck (good or bad) rather than effort. It's putting our future into the hands of fate, rather than our own.
And while there is much in this world that we have absolutely no control over, to reinforce this with a mindset that credits our life events to powers outside of ourselves can have a negative impact.
When you are dealing with a challenge in your life, do you feel that you have control over the outcome? Or do you believe that you are simply at the hands of outside forces?
In personality psychology, locus of control refers to the extent to which people feel that they have control over the events that influence their lives.
There are two types of locus of control, internal and external. An external locus of control supports a belief that one is helpless, blameless and has no control of one's successes and failures. Whereas having an internal locus of control reflects a belief that one's own actions have a direct impact on the course of their life.
A person with an external locus of control attributes his or her success to luck or fate and is therefore less likely to make the effort needed to learn, succeed and grow. People with an external locus of control are also more likely to experience anxiety and depression.
A person with an internal locus of control attributes success to personal efforts and abilities and therefore is more likely to be motivated to work hard and persevere despite adversity.
This is not to say that an internal locus of control is “good” and an external locus of control is “bad”, there are other variables to be considered.
It is important to note that locus of control is a continuum. No one has a 100 percent external or internal locus of control. Instead, most people lie somewhere on the continuum between the two extremes.
However, psychological research has found that people with a more internal locus of control tend to be more achievement oriented, get better paying jobs and have higher self-esteem.
In a study of more than 7,500 British adults followed since birth, researchers found that those who had shown an internal locus of control at the age of ten were less likely to be overweight at age thirty, less likely to describe their health as poor and less likely to show high levels of psychological stress.
The major explanation for these findings was that children with a more internal locus of control behave more healthily as adults because they have greater confidence in their ability to influence outcomes through their own actions.
An internal locus of control has also been associated with more successful weight loss and weight loss maintenance. Because individuals with an internal locus of control have a strong belief that they can impact their health by exerting control over their own behaviors, they take relevant actions to lose weight by themselves and avoid weight regain.
Where do you fall on the spectrum? If you're unsure, take this quick quiz to find out.
Your locus of control can have a major impact on your life, from how you cope with stress to your motivation to make change.
It's the difference between being an active participant in your life versus being a passive bystander.
If you find yourself more on the external end of the continuum, you might find it helpful to start trying to change how you view situations and events in your life.
No, we can't have control over everything, but often in times of stress we are quick to place blame outside of ourselves, throw up our hands and relinquish our authority to "the powers that be" (or the black cat that crossed our path).
We forget that our attitude, thoughts and actions are always within our control and are often contributing to the situation.
So if you feel like bad luck keeps following you around lately, go ahead and cross your fingers, knock on wood and walk around ladders. But also consider focusing your energy on things within your control - your daily habits and your mindset - because your luck probably has something to do with your own behaviors rather than the healing crystals on your nightstand. 🤷🏼♀️
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