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How Much of Life Can We Control?
How to play the cards we're dealt in life.
The Mind, Explored.
February 25, 2024
How much of life is down to luck? Can we take ownership of our achievements? What about times we’ve hurt people?
Where do we draw the line between accepting our fate and taking responsibility?
These are the questions we will explore as we piece together the philosophical concepts of determinism, free will, and whether they could be compatible.
Insight:
On one hand, we have all been born into a lottery, where we have no influence over our genes, parents, and area of the world we are born into.
Building on this, Sam Harris takes an even more thought-provoking stance:
“What we do with that luck is determined by yet more luck.”
Imagine Sara, a young girl who is offered a place at university to study computer science but doesn’t have the money to pay for tuition. To save up, she starts working as a freelance website developer.
Immediately, we may think that Sara's willpower, agency, and problem-solving skills are honourable achievements of her own doing.
However, Harris would argue that these abilities were only made possible by the genetic and environmental conditions that Sara was lucky enough to have.
The fact that she has the intellectual capacity to develop websites, the strategic insight to capitalise on her intellect, and the emotional clarity for inspiration to strike her and stick - Harris would attribute all of this to luck.
Does this mean no one is responsible for their actions?
Some, like Harris, would argue that all our actions are determined by a chain of events outside our control (determinism), implying we have no moral responsibility over the choices we make.
While others, like Deci and Ryan, would argue that we determine our own fate in life (self-determination), aligning with the belief that we all have the ability to act at our own will (free will).
How can we be self-determined in a predetermined life?
Despite the influence of genetics (nature) and our environment (nurture) on our skills, personality, and attitudes, there is a space where we have the power to make our own choices.
This space is commonly referred to as our internal locus of control.
Locus is a Latin word meaning location or place.
An internal locus of control refers to control being located within us, meaning that we have control over our lives (i.e. self-determination and free will).
Whereas an external locus of control refers to control being located outside of us, meaning that outside factors have control over our lives (i.e. determinism and luck).
Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with Harris’ deterministic view, determinism is unlikely to be useful. If we took the view that all our actions are the inevitable result of preceding events, we would feel like a passenger in life, rather than the driver.
Instead, the most practical approach is to acknowledge your locus of control, and operate at your maximum capacity within this space.
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
Think back to Sara - should we give her credit for her hard work?
Absolutely. Recognising the role of luck doesn’t lessen the importance of Sara’s hard work. Instead, it places even greater value on her hard work because she did her best within her locus of control.
The aspects of life that are determined by forces outside our control represent the cards we are dealt. Maximising our activity within our locus of control is the way we can play our cards as well as possible.
This space to determine our life within an existence that is predetermined is where free will and determinism may be compatible (compatibilism). Compatibilists reach the same conclusion as this article: people can be genetically and environmentally predetermined yet still be free to choose within the constraints of those determinations.
Compassion over criticism:
While the belief that much of life is beyond our control can be limiting, it can be useful in appreciating the differences in the cards we are dealt in life.
When we see someone struggling, we can recognise that they may not have been given the most favourable genetic or environmental conditions to fully develop their abilities yet.
This places the focus on helping others develop, rather than judging them for struggling. We can then become the ‘lucky interaction’ they needed all along by acting as a positive environmental factor that nurtures them towards a more developed self.
We can also extend this same empathy and compassion to ourselves in moments of struggle.
"I don't believe in self-made men. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success."
Tool:
Making the most of the cards we’re dealt requires a combination of gratitude and actionable agency:
Think of a challenge you’re experiencing (e.g. career, relationship, or health-related).
List the factors that you can control and the factors that you can’t control.
Set SMART goals to work through all the factors in your internal locus of control.
Express gratitude for what you can control and let go of what you can’t control, knowing that you are doing everything you can.
Prompt:
In any decision, be grateful for your abilities and conditions to take effective action, and let that gratitude fuel you to apply these abilities to their fullest.
Resources on Luck & Control:
One article: The Role of Luck in Life Success Is Far Greater Than We Realized (Scientific American) - scientific studies that illustrate how success is often a consequence of factors beyond our control.
One TedTalk: Can You Change Your Perception in Four Minutes? (Pari Majd) - how to change your locus of control and why this changes outcomes.
One book: The Dice of Life: And the Roll They Play (Howard Minor) - an allegory for how we cannot guarantee results in life, but can change the probability of what happens.
Written by Dr Manu Sidhu 🩺
If you’re interested in hearing founders, investors, and experts explain how technology is being leveraged to improve mind health, check out the MindTech Podcast, also hosted by Dr Manu Sidhu.
In a recent episode, Aline Holzwarth shared her insights from a decorated career as an applied behavioural scientist, such as:
The most effective incentives that mental health apps can give their users to achieve lasting behaviour change
How to leverage a user’s intrinsic motivation to close the gap between intention and action
The 3 behavioural science concepts most relevant to MindTech
Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and any other podcast platform.
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