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Shift Your Locus of Control to Take Charge of Your Engineering Career

Summary

In this episode of Developer Tea, host Jonathan Cuttrell introduces the psychological concept of locus of control—the belief about where control over life outcomes originates. He distinguishes between an internal locus of control, where individuals believe their actions and choices shape outcomes, and an external locus of control, where outcomes are attributed to luck, fate, or external forces. Cuttrell argues that while reality involves a mix of both, adopting a more internal locus is generally more beneficial for career success because it encourages proactive behavior and the belief that one can influence results.

Cuttrell explores the practical implications of these mindsets for software engineers. He observes that engineers who feel stuck in their roles, companies, or with team processes often have not fully explored avenues for change because they underestimate their own influence. The error of an overly external locus is inaction in areas where one actually has control, while the risk of an extreme internal locus is potential burnout from overestimating one’s influence. However, the host suggests the average person is more likely to experience success by leaning internal, as it prompts action and effort where it can matter.

The episode provides two research-informed exercises to help listeners intentionally shift their locus of control toward a more internal orientation. The first is an attribution exercise: reviewing past events or retrospective notes to identify one external factor and two to three factors within one’s control, thereby challenging the default belief that situations are unchangeable or that one lacks capability. The second exercise involves aligning work with personal strengths to build a track record of efficacy, reinforcing the belief that effort leads to impact. Cuttrell emphasizes that locus of control is not fixed and can be developed through intentional practice.

Ultimately, the host clarifies that the goal is not to believe one controls every circumstance but to adopt the more useful mindset that one has influence. This internal locus of control framework is presented as a crucial tool for engineers to operate more effectively, pursue what they care about in their careers, and avoid the passivity that comes from feeling that outcomes are entirely determined by external forces.

Recommendations

Practices

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) — Mentioned as a professional method shown to be effective in improving locus of control, particularly for addressing learned helplessness.
  • Attribution Exercise — A self-guided practice where you review past events or retro cards, identifying one external factor and two to three internal factors you could control to challenge beliefs about stability and capability.
  • Strengths Alignment Exercise — An exercise to identify areas where you have been effective or successful in the past and intentionally align more of your work with those strengths to build a sense of efficacy and reinforce internal locus of control.

Topic Timeline

  • 00:00:00 — Introduction to Locus of Control in Career Development — Jonathan Cuttrell introduces the episode’s focus on control, specifically the psychological concept of locus of control. He defines internal locus (belief that your actions control outcomes) versus external locus (belief that outcomes are controlled by outside forces like luck). The host frames the discussion around which mindset is more helpful for an engineering career, rather than which is perfectly accurate.
  • 00:02:47 — The Risks of External vs. Internal Locus of Control — Cuttrell analyzes the potential errors of each extreme mindset. A universal external locus leads to inaction even when you have control, missing opportunities to influence outcomes. A universal internal locus risks burnout and incorrectly attributing failures to yourself. He presents a wager: it’s generally better to err on the side of believing you have influence, as this leads to more action and a higher chance of positive impact on the things you care about.
  • 00:06:19 — Research and the Case for an Internal Locus — The host cites research showing that successful people tend to have a more internal locus of control. He argues this suggests it’s beneficial to intentionally shift one’s locus to be more internal. This means developing the belief that you have influence over your life’s outcomes. Cuttrell connects this to engineers who feel stuck, suggesting they often haven’t fully explored their potential influence on their role, company, or team processes.
  • 00:08:40 — Locus of Control is Malleable and Can Be Developed — A key point is made: locus of control is not a fixed, genetic trait. It can be impacted by life events and, importantly, can be intentionally changed. Cuttrell mentions Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as one proven method for improving locus of control, especially for learned helplessness. He then transitions to providing practical exercises listeners can do on their own to cultivate a more internal locus.
  • 00:10:29 — Exercise 1: The Attribution Exercise — The first exercise involves reviewing past events (e.g., retro cards, Slack interactions) to interrogate default beliefs. Listeners are instructed to ask two questions: ‘Will my effort change this?’ and ‘Is this situation changeable?’ The goal is to challenge the automatic belief that outcomes are stable and unchangeable. By writing down one external factor and two to three internal factors for a past situation, you reinforce the idea that you likely had more influence than you initially thought.
  • 00:16:56 — Exercise 2: Align Actions with Your Strengths — The second exercise focuses on building efficacy by operating in areas of personal strength. Research shows that focusing on strengths increases the belief in personal control. By doing things you’re good at, you’re more likely to succeed, creating a positive feedback loop where action leads to visible impact, which reinforces an internal locus. Cuttrell advises identifying areas of past success and effectiveness and trying to work in those areas more often.
  • 00:19:28 — Clarification and Conclusion — Cuttrell clarifies that the goal is not to believe you control everything—random external events are real. The aim is to adopt the most useful behavioral stance: believing you have influence guides you to act in ways that are most effective for achieving what you care about in your career. He concludes by reiterating the importance of an internal locus of control as a key mindset for effective action.

Episode Info

  • Podcast: Developer Tea
  • Author: Jonathan Cutrell
  • Category: Technology Business Careers Society & Culture
  • Published: 2025-10-02T07:00:00Z
  • Duration: 00:20:45

References

Podcast Info

Transcript

[00:00:00] hey everyone and welcome to today’s episode of developer team my name is jonathan cuttrell and

[00:00:10] my goal in the show is to help driven developers like you find clarity perspective and purpose in

[00:00:15] their careers today we’re talking about control we’re talking about control and when i say control

[00:00:22] in this particular sense i don’t necessarily mean you having a direct manipulation

[00:00:29] of outcomes instead i’m talking about a more kind of a more academic version of control

[00:00:36] specifically we’re talking about locus of control in today’s episode so when psychologists talk

[00:00:43] about locus of control they’re describing where you believe control over your life and outcomes

[00:00:51] in your life comes from so if you lean external all right so you have internal and external locus

[00:00:58] of control

[00:00:59] you are if you if you uh believe that you’re uh that control happens uh outside of you that you

[00:01:06] don’t control your outcomes that largely whatever happens to you um is is you know it’s by luck or

[00:01:13] it’s by some external forces or factors that mostly shape your life then you have an external

[00:01:20] locus of control and then if you lean internal then you believe that your own actions or your

[00:01:25] choices um you know your effort your

[00:01:29] intentionality that is what controls the most of the outcomes in your life right so of course the

[00:01:37] the truth is uh that both the thing these things are true that you influence the outcomes in your

[00:01:44] life and there are external influences on the outcomes in your life um why does this matter

[00:01:49] though uh you know which one of these is better which one of these is um is more is is more helpful

[00:01:56] to you in your career is is what we really care about is what we really care about is what we really care

[00:01:59] about right we we don’t necessarily care about um you know identifying the perfect ratio to

[00:02:05] reflect reality instead we want to uh adopt a mindset that is useful it’s helpful in our

[00:02:13] careers so uh hopefully you can see that most likely uh if you were to develop an external

[00:02:21] locus of control then the error that you might make okay this is very important to understand

[00:02:28] and why we’re dealing with this is that we’re dealing with an external locus of control

[00:02:29] we’re going to talk about you know uh why we’re going to kind of push you in one direction in

[00:02:33] this in this episode that it’s not just descriptive it’s actually uh instructive

[00:02:38] the if you have if you if you develop an external locus of control then the error you might make

[00:02:47] let’s say that you uh that you’re universally external in other words you think that everything

[00:02:53] that happens to you is the result of some random effect some external influence that you do not

[00:02:59] necessarily have input into it if if that was your perception then the error you might make

[00:03:06] is uh not taking action when you care about the outcome on something that you do have control over

[00:03:14] right remember uh base reality you do have influence on outcomes uh in your life right

[00:03:22] um how much influence is highly dependent and and fluid um but you

[00:03:29] certainly have influence and so if you were to develop a universal belief that external uh you

[00:03:35] know that locus of control is externally located in other words you are not the primary determinant

[00:03:41] of outcomes in your life if you believe that universally then the error you make is uh you

[00:03:47] don’t necessarily believe that any of your actions uh affect your outcomes even when they do

[00:03:54] now let’s look at the opposite let’s let’s make a wager here

[00:03:59] which one of these is better for you imagine that you believed that all outcomes uh you know

[00:04:05] were were your own responsibility no external factors played into them at all which one of

[00:04:12] these is better well in in that case you may go over the top with your actions um and the things

[00:04:20] you can’t control perhaps you incorrectly attribute your actions to some failure even

[00:04:28] though that it wasn’t a failure you may go over the top with your actions and the things that you

[00:04:29] didn’t necessarily uh it didn’t necessarily have anything to do with what you chose to do

[00:04:34] but you don’t miss out on the opportunity to impact or influence in the areas that you can

[00:04:43] right this is a very simplified model of course there are certainly trade-offs uh if you were to

[00:04:50] go extreme in either direction uh the trade-off and going extreme to the internal is that you may

[00:04:57] you know burn yourself out

[00:04:59] right you may uh try to do more than you really have the influence over uh or or you may do more

[00:05:08] than you necessarily need to right you’re uh working kind of into a void because uh certain

[00:05:14] parts of your work is is going nowhere it’s not really necessarily having any impact at all

[00:05:19] uh and of course we’re ignoring the fact that some of these things are may uh interact with

[00:05:26] each other in other words the effort that you spend on things that you’re not doing is not

[00:05:29] you don’t have control over may change the things that you do uh that you do have control over right

[00:05:35] but in a very simplified model if you had a fully internal versus a fully external locus of control

[00:05:43] then you’re more likely to impact to have a positive impact on the outcomes that you care

[00:05:49] about if you were to just leave it up to chance uh then you are much more likely to have uh no

[00:05:56] impact on those outcomes

[00:05:59] because uh the average person there’s an airplane flying overhead so you all can hear that the

[00:06:06] average person uh is more likely to experience success in their life as a general rule and this

[00:06:12] is uh pretty well documented in research um people who are who tend to be successful

[00:06:19] also tend to have more of an internal locus of control all right so uh this kind of

[00:06:27] suggests that the average person is more likely to experience success in their life as a general rule

[00:06:29] is that it is is probably a good idea for us to shift our locus of control to be more heavily

[00:06:37] internal right this essentially all this really means is developing a belief that you have

[00:06:45] influence and impact over the outcomes in your life so in other words you are faced with a scenario

[00:06:54] and uh you know the simplified way of thinking about this is

[00:06:59] is that thing happening to you or are you interacting or acting in uh that situation

[00:07:07] and most people would intuitively say well of course i’m acting in the situation but

[00:07:12] they may not necessarily have a full uh understanding of the impact they can have

[00:07:18] in that situation i see this all the time in my career with engineers who feel like they’re stuck

[00:07:24] in their careers um they feel like they’re stuck you know in their role and they’re stuck in their

[00:07:29] company that they’re stuck with bad processes for example on their team and they have not

[00:07:36] necessarily explored many routes at all for improving those processes they haven’t really

[00:07:42] had a conversation with their manager for example about what they would like to do to help make

[00:07:48] things better my guess is that the avenues that they’ve explored have been largely the ones they

[00:07:57] believe they have control over

[00:07:59] but they haven’t really necessarily interrogated whether the things they have control over might

[00:08:05] be more expansive than they originally thought and i’m here to encourage you uh as whether you’re a

[00:08:12] manager uh an engineer maybe you’re not an engineer yet you want to become one um i want to

[00:08:17] encourage you by saying you have more influence than you think you do first of all uh this is

[00:08:26] almost universally true most people underestimate their influence and they’re not necessarily

[00:08:29] influenced you probably have more influence than you think you do uh even if you uh don’t currently

[00:08:35] have it it’s likely that more influence is accessible to you and this is a very important

[00:08:40] point locus of control is not a fixed quantity there’s not something that can’t change right

[00:08:49] this is not something that uh you know that we that is inherited or or you know genetic

[00:08:55] necessarily certain aspects of it certainly are are impacted but it’s not something that

[00:08:59] we can develop uh in our childhood we can kind of develop a sense of agency or control over things

[00:09:05] or a lack of agency or control uh different events in our life may inform us of this

[00:09:12] but there’s very good research saying that people’s locus of control even without trying

[00:09:18] to change it it can be impacted so um it’s very likely that if you intentionally try to change

[00:09:25] your locus of control you could have a measurable impact on it so i’m going to go ahead and

[00:09:29] on that so how are we going to do this we’re going to do a couple of um of exercise i’m going

[00:09:36] to give you a couple of exercises to do and these are based on research uh you know there’s there’s

[00:09:42] not a ton of research on the idea of intentionally changing a locus of control

[00:09:46] but it is mixed in with other types of uh you know kind of reframing research um you know

[00:09:54] one good example of this and this is not something that i can provide certainly not something you can

[00:09:59] get away with but it’s a good example of this and it’s not something that i can provide

[00:09:59] through a podcast but cognitive behavioral therapy cbt uh is shown to improve locus of

[00:10:05] control uh especially for people who have uh kind of like a learned a learned helplessness

[00:10:12] um you know that those are situations where you may want to seek actual professional help

[00:10:17] and it is effective particularly cbt has been shown to be effective

[00:10:22] and we’re going to do another kind of um it’s an attribution exercise

[00:10:29] and what this exercise does i want you to take out your calendar or review you know the last

[00:10:36] kind of two or three events that occurred uh maybe in slack or something somewhere where you felt

[00:10:43] like and another good example is you’ll go back and look at the cards that you may have added to

[00:10:48] a retro let’s say you’re on a team you have sprints and you do you know retros at the end

[00:10:52] of your sprints or you do uh you know retros during uh you know every month or something

[00:10:57] like that go back and look at the cards that you’ve added to a retro let’s say you’re on a

[00:10:59] put in your retro these are good kind of barometers for your personal locus of control

[00:11:06] does the card kind of approach or does your your retro interaction kind of approach things

[00:11:13] from the perspective of here’s things i would like to change or does it approach things from

[00:11:18] the perspective of here’s what’s happening to me uh it’s possible that that’s reflective of your

[00:11:24] of your locus of control so what we’re going to do is we’re going to look at

[00:11:29] um come two aspects okay two aspects one is whether or not your efforts will change things

[00:11:41] right and two are things changeable right so will my effort change it and is it changeable

[00:11:52] people tend to have an automatic response or an automatic kind of

[00:11:58] fastening

[00:11:59] evaluation of a given circumstance and they may believe uh you know by default that uh things are

[00:12:08] not changeable that that most of our outcomes are a result of fate right that it’s a fixed

[00:12:15] fixed outcome uh and so so it’s very stable right a stable outcome and that uh my my skill set

[00:12:27] can’t adapt to the point where i can’t

[00:12:29] change that outcome right so the wall is immovable and i’m unable to move things

[00:12:36] right either one of those kind of um uh fundamental beliefs may limit your ability

[00:12:44] to impact the situation and again this is not necessarily reality it may be that you

[00:12:52] actually do have the skill or the you know the the necessary capability to change things

[00:12:59] uh and it may also be that things are changeable right that the the outcome is actually fluid it’s

[00:13:06] unstable right so that’s the opposite the opposite uh you know kind of the the representation of an

[00:13:12] internal locus of control might be um that i am capable and then if i’m capable it is also

[00:13:22] movable right the the outcome is changeable it’s it’s dynamic it is an unstable outcome you know and the

[00:13:29] In this world, we actually want unstable outcomes

[00:13:31] because that means that they can be influenced, right?

[00:13:35] So I want you to take a look at these events or retro cards,

[00:13:39] whatever it is that you choose to kind of review, right?

[00:13:42] Don’t try to look forward because, or at least yet,

[00:13:47] you want to look back at your behavior and interrogate yourself.

[00:13:52] Write down, one way to do this is to write down

[00:13:56] one part of the situation that was external to you

[00:14:00] and write down two or three parts that were within your control, right?

[00:14:07] That even though you discounted it,

[00:14:09] if you were to really actually think about it,

[00:14:12] if you were to really consider whether there’s anything you could do,

[00:14:17] that it would go on this list, right?

[00:14:20] And so what this should do is it should reinforce that

[00:14:24] it’s very unlikely that any given thing

[00:14:26] that you’re doing is going to be in your control.

[00:14:26] You experience in your career is fully out of your influence,

[00:14:30] fully out of your control.

[00:14:32] There may be occasions where the outcome is largely impacted

[00:14:36] by something out of your control,

[00:14:37] but in most day-to-day circumstances, you have more influence,

[00:14:41] you have more capacity or capability of changing things,

[00:14:45] and the outcomes are more unstable than we believe they are.

[00:14:50] So what this does over time is it helps you

[00:14:54] interrogate your default beliefs,

[00:14:56] and hopefully the next time you encounter a similar circumstance,

[00:15:00] you may trip over your thinking.

[00:15:04] That’s the intent is we’re trying to throw, you know,

[00:15:07] trip wires into our automatic beliefs.

[00:15:10] So then we can kind of begin to rewire,

[00:15:13] begin to interrogate and begin to question and,

[00:15:17] and recalibrate to what may actually be more true.

[00:15:22] And even if, even if it’s not necessarily because again,

[00:15:26] it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s,

[00:15:26] it’s hard to say exactly what is true here.

[00:15:30] But it is more useful to believe that you have the capacity to change things.

[00:15:36] Right.

[00:15:37] And that’s because of that wager that we talked to the talked about at the

[00:15:40] beginning, that it’s more, it’s, it is generally speaking,

[00:15:43] more preferable for you to try to change something,

[00:15:47] try to change things and some things not be changeable, right.

[00:15:52] Then to not change anything or not exert any effort and,

[00:15:56] and miss out on opportunities where things are indeed under your influence.

[00:16:02] So I wouldn’t be clear about something here.

[00:16:05] These outcomes that we’re talking about,

[00:16:07] we’re not necessarily talking about, you know, changing,

[00:16:10] changing the world for the better or something like that.

[00:16:12] This isn’t just altruism.

[00:16:14] This is also things that you care about personally,

[00:16:17] outcomes that you are invested in.

[00:16:20] Right.

[00:16:20] So this is anything that you may want in your career,

[00:16:25] or you may want to be true in the world.

[00:16:26] It is likely that you have more potential for influence than,

[00:16:32] than you think you do.

[00:16:33] So this,

[00:16:35] this first exercise is this attribution exercise that you’re,

[00:16:39] you’re going to kind of try to identify that the outcome is more unstable than

[00:16:46] you originally thought,

[00:16:47] and that you are more capable than you originally thought.

[00:16:51] There’s some good research showing that if you can focus on your own

[00:16:56] strengths,

[00:16:57] then you’re more likely to believe that you have more control.

[00:17:03] And the reason for this is that there’s,

[00:17:05] there’s kind of an underlying connection between your,

[00:17:09] your effort and the visible outcomes of your effort.

[00:17:13] You being able to see that when I did this thing,

[00:17:16] I had some impact on my environment.

[00:17:18] I had some impact on the outcome.

[00:17:21] And so if you observe that happening over time,

[00:17:24] especially repeatedly,

[00:17:25] and if you,

[00:17:26] if you observe yourself improving or being able to handle more and more

[00:17:30] complexity,

[00:17:32] more and more difficulty,

[00:17:33] harder,

[00:17:34] bigger,

[00:17:35] you know,

[00:17:36] more things,

[00:17:38] then you’re more likely to believe that your efforts actually do matter to

[00:17:43] your outcomes.

[00:17:45] Well,

[00:17:45] if you can align your actions to your strengths,

[00:17:48] then you’re more likely to have efficacy in your actions.

[00:17:52] This is a very simple idea.

[00:17:53] Do the things that you’re good at,

[00:17:55] and you’re more likely to succeed.

[00:17:56] You’re more likely to succeed at those things,

[00:17:58] right?

[00:17:58] So when you succeed,

[00:18:00] it kind of begins this cycle of,

[00:18:03] well,

[00:18:03] I did something,

[00:18:04] it went well,

[00:18:05] therefore I impacted the outcome.

[00:18:08] So you want to kind of determine what areas have you had success in?

[00:18:16] What areas have you been effective in?

[00:18:20] And try to operate in those areas as often as possible.

[00:18:24] This will help you continue to develop,

[00:18:26] more and more of a sense of an internal locus of control.

[00:18:31] So the first exercise,

[00:18:33] again,

[00:18:33] is this attributional or attribution exercise where you’re looking specifically at the stability and your capability in a given circumstance.

[00:18:45] The second exercise is to look at your,

[00:18:50] and look at those,

[00:18:50] you can look at the same events,

[00:18:52] you can look at maybe your future work,

[00:18:54] and try to identify,

[00:18:56] which of that work feels like it’s aligned to your, what you’re naturally good at. Things that

[00:19:03] you feel like you can have a very good, a strong impact because that’s going to reinforce that

[00:19:11] internal locus of control belief. Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode of Developer

[00:19:16] T. Hopefully you can kind of understand what the value is of an internal locus of control

[00:19:21] and that you believe that you can shift that over time. My goal here is not necessarily to

[00:19:28] convince you that you have control over every circumstance. That is actually very much so not

[00:19:36] the case. We very often are impacted by random events, by effects outside of our control.

[00:19:43] But the question remains, what should we do? What should we do in a given circumstance? How should I

[00:19:50] behave? What should I, you know, how can I operate in a way that is going to be most effective

[00:19:58] to getting the things that I care about? And this internal locus of control, I believe,

[00:20:03] is one of the most important kind of ways of thinking about how you should behave given a

[00:20:10] circumstance. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please join us in our

[00:20:14] Developer T Discord community. Head over to developerT.com slash Discord. You can join

[00:20:20] totally for free. It will always be free. You can also find us on YouTube. If you’re listening to

[00:20:26] this as a podcast, there’s also a YouTube video up for this. And of course, you can subscribe to

[00:20:31] the podcast and whatever podcast app you’re listening to currently. Thank you so much for

[00:20:36] listening. And until next time, enjoy your tea.

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