6 Practical Ways You Can Make The Law Of Attraction Work For You

Do you believe you can influence your surroundings, so things happen FOR you? Or do you believe things happen TO you?

People who believe that the events in their lives are caused by their own choices and are completely within their own control have a strong internal locus of control and are more likely to be successful achievers in the long-term.

People who believe they are not in control of their lives and think their life and their success is controlled by external events have a strong external locus of control.  They are the ‘victims’ of life.

Why Does This Matter?

The truth is, your thoughts and feelings do have an effect on the events that take place around you, and the more internal your locus of control is…..

….the more good things you can attract into your life!

You Can Grow Your Locus Of Control

Our visions, thoughts, beliefs, and expectations affect our life experience.

From a voice in our soul, to a spark in our heart, to the firing of neurotransmitters as they cross the synaptic gaps within our brain, everything is created in our minds before it manifests itself in our lives.

Our subconscious can take us up a path to a place our conscious mind didn’t know we needed to take.  This is sometimes referred to as a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Our beliefs and expectations influence our behavior at the subconscious level, such that outcomes become what we thought they would be.

Psychologists back this up with strong evidence for the impact of our beliefs and expectations on outcomes, particularly when we are convinced that our predictions will manifest, even when we aren’t aware that we hold the expectation.

A commonly understood example of a self-fulfilling prophecy in psychology is what is known as the placebo effect (Isaksen, 2012).

The placebo effect is a good example of a self-fulfilling prophecy.  A placebo — a fake treatment —an inactive substance like sugar, distilled water, or saline solution — will improve a patient’s condition simply because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful.

This effect, discovered during clinical trials on the placebo effect, have proven that belief can be an immensely powerful thing.

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” 

Henry Ford

Our Visions, Thoughts, Beliefs, and Expectations Affect Others

Not only can our beliefs and expectations create our outcomes, they can also affect the behaviors of others.   This effect, known as the Pygmalion Effect, is a psychological phenomenon wherein high expectations lead to improved performance. 

“When we expect certain behaviors of others, we are likely to act in ways that make the expected behavior more likely to occur” (Rosenthal & Babad, 1985).

The flip-side is the Golem effect, wherein low expectations lead to decreased performance.

Both effects can create self-fulfilling prophecies.

You Get To CHOOSE! 

You can choose your thoughts and beliefs. Regardless of where you fall on the locus of control spectrum, if you want to shift your beliefs toward a more internal locus of control, you can!

It’s just a matter of deciding to do it, and then taking steps to make it happen. It is not a quick fix, but you will be amazed at the benefits to your quality of life.  Here are a few choices you can make to improve your internal locus of control.

1) Become more mindful of how you respond to events.

While you may not be able to directly control some things that happen in your life, you do have direct control over how you respond to those things. In reality, your response to the circumstances, people and events in your life has a much larger impact on the quality of your life than the events themselves.

2) Remove counter intentions and limiting beliefs that have been influencing your subconscious behaviors.

Counter intentions may be lurking within your subconscious mind, repeating conflicting mantras you learned early in life that have influenced your self-esteem. Things like, “I can’t,” or “I’m not smart enough.”

Clear yourself of any ‘poor me’ way of thinking. Negative thinking leads to negative talk and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you convince yourself that your life is awful, then you go about making your life awful.

Replace these thoughts with positive ones.  “I can, and will,” and “I will learn how.”  “I am an intelligent person, and everything is doable.”  

3) Model your vision.

Become a good model of the person you want to be.  This will reinforce your intentions, and in the process, you will become a positive influence on others.  

Your model will become a self-fulfilling prophecy and will shape not only you but those around you as well.  Through your thoughts and expectations, you will help your children get smarter, help employees become more competent, and generally push others to do well.

Set high standards for yourself and see others in the best possible light. It is not necessary to actively attempt to intervene. Without even realizing it, your example will steer others towards success.

“The fastest way to succeed is to replace bad habits with good habits,  and good habits are the same things done over and over. “

Tom Ziglar

4) Take massive, inspired action.

Verbalize and write down what it is that you really want to achieve.  Act on your positive aspirations.  Don’t wait on the “perfect” time. The spark in your heart will tell you the right thing to do at the right time.  Once you take action, however small it may be to start with, your successes will inspire you to take the next steps. 

As you strengthen your internal locus of control, you will blame yourself when you don’t meet your goals, and this will give you even more momentum to do your best and succeed. You won’t be afraid to pick yourself back up and try again because you know you are another step closer to success. 

Don’t let FEAR — “False Evidence Appearing Real” get in the way, as Zig Ziglar would say.  Instead, “Face Everything And Rise.”

Motivation is not just a cause of action, it’s a result of action!

5) Walk away from toxic people.

Make friendships with positive, like-minded people who will support your efforts. Constant influence by toxic friends will make your efforts to manifest your choices more difficult. This may require you to limit time with or even walk away from toxic friendships that are held together by old self-defeating habits.

Our friends should enrich our life. Friends who want the best for us and see the best in us are a blessing.  They will support and uplift us.

Unfortunately, friends are not always a positive influence – for many different reasons.

When making positive changes in our life, some friends may unintentionally sabotage our efforts. Usually the influence is subtle through negative talk due to their own low self-esteem, or even a subconscious fear that the person they love will outgrow them. Your success may bring awareness to them of their own shortcomings.

6) Be grateful for what you have and what you are accomplishing

In short, practicing gratitude kicks off a healthful, self-perpetuating cycle in your brain.  Amazingly, showing gratitude kicks off neurological effects in our brain that result in improved health benefits like:

• decreased pain levels due to the release of dopamine when showing gratitude,
• better quality of sleep, decreasing the time it takes to fall asleep and lengthening the duration of our sleep which has been shown to positively influence many bodily functions,
• fewer symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression, and
• increased energy and vitality, potentially increasing lifespan. 

It’s always easier to be positive when you feel good.

As you shift to a more internal locus of control, your self-esteem will improve, and you will be surprised to see events fall into place to support your desires and goals as the world around you responds to your expectations.