Having a more internal locus of control means we believe we have more control over the event.

Having a more external locus of control means we believe that outside forces (other people, the environment, God, etc.) have more control over the event.

Usually our locus of control depends on the event – it lies on a spectrum between “complete control” and “no control.”

When our locus of control is mis-attributed, it can cause a lot of unnecessary harm and suffering in our lives.

When we overestimate our control in a situation, we may become unnecessarily stressed out and anxious over events we have no power over. We can think and fret about them all we want, but nothing we do can change those circumstances. Focusing on these things does nothing but drain our energy. And the less we accept them, the more we seek to change them. Despite being powerless.

And when we underestimate our control in a situation, we may unnecessarily settle for things in our life that we actually have the power to change and improve. So instead of changing the situation for the better, we actually settle for something much worse. Clearly, relinquishing our power in such situations decreases our well-being.

Living a more satisfying and happy life is directly dependent on how accurate our locus of control is. When we exert effort over the things we actually have power over, we maximize our happiness and well-being in the best possible way, given our circumstances.

Unfortunately, I can’t define your locus of control for you. That is for everyone to determine for themselves, given their abilities and situation.

The extent to which we have power over our lives can be hard to distinguish. Our world is vastly complex and it is built on a matrices of different factors. Fortunately, by living more mindfully and consciously in the present moment, we can better determine where we have power and where we don’t.

We can do this by watching our daily choices and actions, and then witnessing first-hand how they affect our lives. The more aware we are, the better we can distinguish which actions are fruitful and which aren’t.

Discovering our locus of control is a constant work-in-progress. It is something that can be continuously refined, so long as we choose to live more consciously. Day in and day out.

I feel I’d be doing my readers a big disservice by not mentioning these excellent resources, and that’s why I want to dedicate a post solely to raise awareness toward these personal development sites that have been on my radar lately.

Of course, these sites are going to appeal to different people. Some are focused on minimalism, others are more about achieving goals and motivation, a couple are geared toward business, and some are very philosophical and introspective. Despite these differences, I believe a well-balanced individual can take something positive away from each one.

Before we get started, let me just share the criteria I’m using for choosing which sites to recommend:

1) It has to be a site related to some realm of personal development.

2) It has to be a site I honestly enjoy and read on a frequent basis.

2) It has to be a site that gets less traffic than me (one of my goals is to promote sites that I believe deserve more recognition).

So without further adieu, here are the personal development sites I highly recommend you check out. Also, feel free to share your own recommendations in the comment section below.

Advanced Riskology is a site that focuses on bold living and how to take smart risks. Blogger Tyler Tervooren recognizes that uncertainty is an unavoidable aspect of our lives, but the difference between successful people vs. not-so-successful people is their ability to face these uncertainties with a little more faith, courage, and intelligence. I recommend his site to anyone who is looking to better face their fears.

Free Download: Take This Job and Shove It

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2. Becoming Minimalist

Becoming Minimalist is a very practice-based blog on how to live a more minimalist and self-sufficient lifestyle. The author Joshua Becker strongly believes in the “less is more” principle that is commonly advocated on minimalist blogs, but he does it in a down-to-earth way that can help anyone de-clutter the waste in their lives and realign their focus toward what really matters.

Featured Product: Inside-Out Simplicity: Life-Changing Keys to your Most Important Relationships

3. Beyond Growth

Duff McDuffee and Eric Schiller at Beyond Growth are probably some of the most critical and rational thinkers in the personal development community right now. They are never afraid to call out other personal development “experts” on their BS, and they approach personal development from a uniquely clear-headed perspective that is very rare to see these days when discussing these topics. I consider Beyond Growth a very essential counter-force to a lot of personal development mythology out there. It’s the place I go whenever I need some of my common beliefs and assumptions challenged. Definitely check them out, but be willing to do some serious thinking and reflection.

4. Hustler’s Notebook

JK Allen describes his blog The Hustler’s Notebook as “growth and development from a street-smart perspective.” His writings are thorough and comprehensive – but always fluff-free. JK seems to have an uncanny ability to get right at the core of motivation and “hustling,” without getting too ambiguous and conceptual. His ability to communicate simple but profound ideas is virtually unmatched by other bloggers. Not only does he know how to hustle, he knows how to hustle hard – I recommend his site to anyone who needs that extra boost in motivation.

5. Live Bold and Bloom

Live Bold and Bloom is a site by blogger Barrie Davenport which focuses on how we can live more meaningful and purposeful lives. She covers many areas in personal development, including balanced living, how to reframe our thoughts so that they are more positive and productive, and how to step outside of our comfort zone for truly transformational experiences. I recommend this site to anyone who is in need of positive and uplifting advice. Her posts will definitely make you smile.

Free Download: The Bold Living Guide: 7 Key Ingredients to a Meaningful Life

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6. Living Authentically

Living Authentically is a site by Evan Hadkins which focuses on how to live at the core of who you really are. Evan takes a very personal and introspective approach to personal development, but it’s accompanied by very practical and informative advice. Unlike many other personal development bloggers, Evan respects individual’s independence and autonomy, but at the same time he offers highly applicable information to anyone who is seeking a more grounded direction in their lives (and he carefully does all of this without commanding you on how you “should” think, feel, or act). He also shares considerable knowledge on how to overcome trauma and other deep-rooted phobias and anxieties.

Free Download: Satisfaction from Authenticity

My Interview: Living Authentically with Evan Hadkins

7. Mindful Construct

Mindful Construct is an excellent blog that focuses on healthy mindfulness and other important teachings in psychology and personal development. The author Melissa Karnaze has a BS in Cognitive Science and is currently pursuing her Masters in Experimental Psychology. She offers a great amount of critical reading on some of the potential dangers of mindfulness and how we can avoid these dangerous while still maintaining the benefits of mindfulness. She advocates nurturing a healthy ego, questioning our programmed thinking, taking responsibility for our lives, practicing emotional intelligence, and self-love.

Free E-Class: Your Life is Your Construct

8. Mind Adventure

Mind Adventure is a very wise and practical resource on how to cultivate inner strength and outer freedom in our lives. The author Rob White is a former philosophy professor turned multi-millionaire after running successful businesses in a variety of industries including selling real estate and owning a couple restaurants. His bog is filled with stories, anecdotes, and metaphors that awaken readers to their true inner potential and how they can live happier and more successful lives. It’s worth noting that Rob was also kind enough to mail me a copy of his 30-day workbook 180, which is a phenomenal (and beautifully designed) step-by-step guide on how to cultivate new attitudes that improve your well-being in almost every domain of life. There’s no doubt about it, he’s a very generous and hard-working dude who fully lives by the maxim that “we reap what we sow.”

Featured Product: 180: Climbing The Two Ladders to Inner Strength and Outer Freedom

My Interview: Rob White of Mind Adventure

9. Sam Spurlin

Sam Spurlin is a writer, coach, and graduate student at Claremont University, currently pursuing his MA in Positive Psychology. His blog offers incredibly sensible advice on how to live more consciously, especially when it comes to our values, health, work, thinking, and relationships. Although he started his personal development journey within the minimalist movement, his current writings offer simple and useful strategies that anyone can begin using to integrate more consciousness into their daily living.

Featured Product: Regaining Consciousness

10. The Shrink for Entrepreneurs

Peter Shallard from The Shrink for Entrepreneurs is a psychotherapist and business consultant who specializes in helping entrepreneurs overcome the mental obstacles that often come with running a business. Being an entrepreneur himself, he has a very intimate understanding of the worries, fears, and anxieties that often plague aspiring business owners. His site is the #1 resource for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and solopreneurs who want to stay productive, but sane.

Free Download: Seek and Destroy: How To Identify Entrepreneurial Obstacles and Overcome Them (PDF)

My Interview: Peter Shallard: The Shrink for Entrepreneurs

Thanks for checking out these sites. I sincerely hope you found something valuable, and I’m sure these bloggers are going to keep providing quality content well into the future. Please feel free to recommend your personal favorites in the comment section below!

In this article, I attempt to answer these important but often difficult questions. I then share 5 fundamentals on Regaining Consciousness, as laid out by psychology blogger Sam Spurlin. These fundamentals aim to cultivate a higher state of awareness toward key areas of our life, such as our values, health, work, thinking, and relationships.

Consciousness is the bedrock of your personal development.

Consciousness is more than just a passing thought, feeling, memory, or imagination, but the underlying awareness that permeates every experience you’ll ever have.

In order to define consciousness, it helps to first think of it as a spectrum of awareness.

On one end of the spectrum, there are lower levels of consciousness, including being distracted, lazy or bored. Usually in these states, we maintain some awareness of our environment, but not very much. We can probably get a lot of tedious chores done while being distracted or bored, but this isn’t the optimal state you want to be in when trying to achieve a big or meaningful goal.

The very lowest levels of consciousness are states like drug intoxication, sleep, or a coma, where we actually aren’t conscious at all – but unconscious. Most of the time we don’t get anything productive or creative done in these states (mostly because “you” aren’t actually around when you’re unconscious).

And on the opposite end of the spectrum, there are very high states of consciousness, like mindfulness and flow. These are states of mind where an individual is highly attentive and engaged with their environment, often interacting with it in very skillful and sophisticated ways (like a painter working on their masterpiece, a baseball player pitching a perfect game, or a life-long businessman pitching a big sale).

Unlike lower levels of consciousness, higher levels of consciousness are very optimal for goal-achieving and success in virtually any domain of life. This is because higher levels of consciousness always include supreme focus and discipline.

What I want you to understand is that, ultimately, the level of consciousness we cultivate throughout our day is the most fundamental components to our well-being and success. Personal development without conscious living is simply impossible – the more aware we are of ourselves and our environment, the more power and control we have to change it.

5 Steps Toward Regaining Consciousness

Sam Spurlin writes about Regaining Consciousness in his insightful e-book. The lessons covered are intuitive and thought-provoking, but also widely applicable to cultivating consciousness toward different (and often underestimated) areas in our life.

It reminds me of a more “contemporary” version of the popular Mindfulness in Plain English, because it’s primary focus is how to practice healthy consciousness throughout our daily activities (even with common things like eating and exercise) – not just during meditation.

Sam understands that cultivating consciousness is not just for Zen monks camping out in some cave, but something that can also be applied to the “American way” of living too. This means we can work on regaining consciousness even with a 9-5 job, bills to pay, and a family to take care of.

In the book there are 5 crucial steps laid out that anyone can follow to facilitate conscious living. I’m going to summarize each step here, but if you really want to read more about each one, I recommend you check out his book for yourself. I honestly couldn’t put it down when I first started it.

Find your values.

Going through life without a clear sense of our values and goals is a sure-fire way to not find happiness. Many people live their lives aimlessly and unconsciously (like a puppet on strings), without ever introspecting and asking themselves, “What do I really want in life? What direction do I want to go in?” To cultivate more consciousness toward our values in life, Sam suggests:

• Make a list of core values and narrow it down to your top 3-5. Imagine what your life would be like if you acted in accordance with these values.
• Don’t chase other people’s dreams – question the values you learn from authority figures, the media, TV, and pop culture.
• Listen to your heart and mind above all else. Do what you honestly think is right.
• Have priorities. Sure, you may value playing video games, but is it more important than taking care of your family or studying for school or doing something more creative like writing a song? It’s up to you.

Take control of your health.

Consciousness toward our health is absolutely crucial for physical and mental well-being. Everyday we make decisions that have to do with our bodies: what we choose to consume, and what kind of physical activities we choose to partake in. The more aware we are of what we eat and how much exercise we get, the better off our health will be. Sam suggests we:

• Make small and deliberate decisions to be healthier. Start by cutting down soda intake and replacing it with water. Or try just going for a short walk every morning. Start with little things and build from there.
• Be a conscious eater. When you eat, don’t distract yourself by reading the paper or surfing the internet. Instead, pay very close attention to how the food tastes and how your body is reacting to it.
• Tune into your body during physical exercise. For example, while running pay close attention to the mechanics of your legs/body, the motions of your breathing, and any other pain/aches/sensations in your body that you may be experiencing. Think of any physical activity as a way of meditating – and your body is the object of your meditation.
• Learn from the wisdom of your body. Our body is always sending us signals on it’s condition (like when you are hungry, when you need to use the restroom, when you tore a muscle, etc.) The more we are aware of these signals, the better we can respond to our body’s needs. You’d probably be surprised on just how much you can learn from your body if you listen to it.

Doing work that matters.

Next to our health, one of the biggest factors in achieving happiness is doing meaningful work with our lives. A dead-end job that doesn’t align with our values can feel like a curse. Instead of inspiring us and motivating us, it drains us of our energy and leaves us feeling empty inside. On the other hand, a meaningful job that actually matters to us is drastically more fulfilling. Here’s what Sam recommends we do:

• Re-evaluate your current job. What do you like about it (if anything)? What purpose do you fulfill? Does it align with your values?
• If you aren’t happy with your job, begin searching for alternative career paths that you find more fulfilling. In the book, Sam mentions how he used to be a teacher (and he liked his job), but becoming self-employed aligned with more of his values and interests, so he made the switch.
• Pay attention to activities that put you into a state of engagement and flow. Very often these passions of yours can point you in the right direction when choosing a job or career.
• A big goal in my personal life is to find work that I love but also serves an important function in improving society.

Master your mind with conscious thinking.

A big part of Regaining Consciousness is taking more control over our education, thoughts, beliefs, and perspective. Throughout the guide, Sam asks us to challenge our old assumptions and beliefs, accept our ignorance about certain topics, and willingly seek to improve our knowledge and attitude about the world. He recommends you:

• Acknowledge that you have a limited perspective. You don’t know everything, so don’t be stubborn and act like you do.
• Try to look beyond any biases or prejudices you may have by looking at new information as neutrally as possible.
• Become an active learner. Choose a topic that has always fascinated you, go to the library, and then take out a few books on it. Read up on it and share what you learned with others.
• Go “Wikipedia surfing.” Go to an article, read through, it and click on any links that interest you. Keep continuing the process until you feel you have learned something new and interesting that you didn’t know before.
• Always maintain a healthy curiosity and willingness to learn. We don’t stop being students after we graduate high school or college.
• Listen to everyone’s views. Respect that other people may have different experiences, knowledge, and beliefs than you do. Ignore the trap of having to label everything “right” or “wrong.”

Nurturing conscious relationships.

One of the most important steps toward conscious living is becoming more aware of the relationships that make up our world. For some of us, we may cling onto toxic relationships that end up hurting both ourselves and the other person. For others, we may have trouble cultivating meaningful relationships. In both cases, cultivating higher consciousness is crucial. Some of Sam’s suggestions include:

• Recognize the “vampires” in your life. These are people who are always being negative and sucking the energy out of you. They are the buzz-kill to every party and the rain to every parade. Stay far away from them. They are miserable – and they expect you to be miserable too.
• Associate with “vampire slayers.” Vampire slayers are people who crush negativity in their lives. Instead of draining you of energy, they empower and motivate you. They encourage you to pursue your values and goals, and they are always around to lend a helping hand when you need it.
• The essential rule of cultivating conscious relationships is to invest positive energy into the relationships that are valuable to us, and let the one’s that aren’t valuable fizzle out. Although it may be painful to get rid of old friends, it is sometimes the necessary thing to do.

Free Preview of “Regaining Consciousness.”

If you visit the Regaining Consciousness page you can check out the first 15+ pages absolutely free.

Transcendent Man is a 2009 documentary on the life and ideas of Raymond Kurzweil, a renowned inventor and leading contributor to the field of artificial intelligence. The theme of Transcendent Man is based on Kurzweil’s theory of singularity. Kurzweil believes that within the next century human life will be completely emerged and interconnected with machines and computers.

Some of his predictions for the future include:

• In 2020, one personal computer will have the same processing power as a human brain.
• In the 2020s, a computer will pass the Turing Test. The Turing Test is when a human communicates with one person and one machine, and if the person can’t tell which is the machine, then the machine passes the test. This is considered the standard test in A.I. when determining if a machine is conscious or not.
• In the 2030s, nanotechnology will be used to carry out many of our medical procedures, including brain scans, administering medicines and antibiotics, etc.
• In the 2030s, mind uploading will become possible. Mind uploading is when we can upload our brain’s biological data into a computer.
• In the 2040s, through the use of nanotechnology and mind uploading, people will spend most of their time immersed in a virtual reality (Kurzweil has cited the movie The Matrix as similar to how our virtual realities will be).
• In 2045, $1000 buys a computer a billion times more intelligent than every human combined.
• In 2045, The technological singularity occurs as artificial intelligences surpass human beings as the smartest and most capable life forms on the Earth. Humans won’t be able to comprehend what machines are communicating unless they merge their brains with computers (because of how much faster thoughts and information will be processed once we reach this point).

Why does Kurzweil expect so much technological growth within the next half century? It has to do with what he calls the law of accelerating returns. In this law, Kurzweil describes how the rate of change in information systems tends to increase at an exponential rate.

This can be observed in both evolutionary theory (there is exponentially more gene diversity today than there was during the beginning of life, and remember genes are nothing more than encoded information that makes up our biology). And the same phenomena can also be observed in technological growth (technology feeds on technology and gets increasingly more powerful).

For example, today a person in Kenya with a cellphone has more access to information than the U.S. President did 10 years ago. That is how rapidly technology is evolving today. Similarly, during the late 1960s, Kurzweil recalls working with a computer in MIT that was the size of a whole room; today, the technology in most of our cellphones is 100 times smaller but 100 times more powerful.

Kurzweil imagines technologies will continue to get more powerful, more compact, and more affordable. At some point, Kurzweil predicts we will be able to infuse nanotechnology into our bloodstream, technology that is more powerful than the computers we are using right now. This nanotechnology can be used to fight diseases and protect us from illness. As the process continues to develop, we will eventually reach the point of singularity – where technology has completely outpaced the evolution of human life.

In order to adapt to such a new standard-of-living and culture, Kurzweil believes that humans are going to need to fully merge with their technology. It’s hard to imagine what it may be like. Perhaps a Google-like search engine implanted into our frontal cortex, new memory chips being added to our hippocampus, or a high-resolution camera being attached to our occipital lobe. These are just some ideas floating around, but the possibilities are virtually endless.

Interestingly, if you ask your parents or grandparents, they will probably remark on how amazing technology has become over the past few decades. But according to Kurzweil, the children being born today are going to see even more incredible mind-blowing advancements being made throughout their lifetime. It’s all due to this law of accelerating returns, and the idea that technology continues to build off of older technology.

One of the most surprising predictions Kurzweil makes is the notion of immortality. When technology officially outpaces evolution, Kurzweil believes that humans will have the capacity to use this technology to prolong lives indefinitely. Kurzweil imagines an alternative lifestyle where we live in virtual worlds (kind of like the online game “Second Life”). This could be a viable alternative to biological decay and death – and even Kurzweil himself believes that there is a good chance he will be able to live forever in such a world. It would be just like a customizable videogame, where we can choose different avatars and download ourselves into almost any environment we can imagine.

In fact, Kurzweil believes in this notion of immortality so strongly that he keeps himself on a strict medical regimen to improve his chances of living until the singularity hits. According to Transcendent Man, Kurzweil’s health routine used to include 250 pills, 8-10 glasses of water, and 10 cups of tea every day. He has since cut down his pill intake to 150 pills a day – which is still quite the feat. Kurzweil has also teamed up with “anti-aging” doctor Terry Grossman to help prolong his life as far as possible. The two have collaborated on 2 health-related books, their latest called Transcend: Nine Steps To Living Well Forever. It includes various advice and tips on diet, nutrition, aerobics, weight-training, supplements, relaxation, and the future of medicine.

If all of Kurzweil’s dreams come true, he will live forever, and also be able to resurrect an avatar of his Dad who he has been saving information on all of his life. To do this, Kurzweil has literally collected a room full of documents, letters, and photos of his Dad which he believes he can one day use to create a digital file. Perhaps then – in virtual land – he can meet his Dad once again.

Imagine how remarkable this would all be if it could come true.

How much is Kurweil full of it?

If you are reading these ideas and predictions for the first time, I’m sure you’ve thought “Wow!” at least once or twice mixed with some feelings of skepticism and doubt. I agree – these ideas can be hard to swallow. But I think Kurzweil is at least partially right that technology will continue to merge with human life, and the implications might be massive and unpredictable.

Although Kurzweil’s ideas may sound extreme, he is a man with a fairly good reputation of predicting future events and being on the cusp of the latest advancements in technology. When Kurzweil first started, he became known for developing a “text-to-speech” reader for the blind (an invention that won him the National Medal of Technology from then President Bill Clinton). Kurzweil is also widely known in the music industry for his development of Kurzweil synthesizers and electronic keyboards (I’m fortunate enough to say the Kurzweil K2000 was the first electronic keyboard I ever owned).

Kurzweil has received numerous awards from universities and science academies over the years and is typically a well-respected figure in the fields of artificial intelligence and technology.

But the thing I’m most concerned about with Kurzweil’s endeavors is his fear of death, and his seeming motivation to do all of this to save his father. Many of Kurzweil’s critics claim that he is overly optimistic regarding the capabilities of technology over the next century. They also claim that he is underestimating the potential of this technology to be used for evil (think – The Terminator).

Despite Kurzweil’s obvious intelligence, he may be a man ridden with some issues he isn’t willing to accept the reality of. I hope that if his quest for immortality doesn’t come true, that he is a man who can still face his death with dignity.

If you want to learn more about Kurzweil’s personal life and career, Transcendent Man does a good job of going over these personal matters that drive Kurzweil’s genius and more about his theories and ideas on singularity.

I partially agree, but I also find his position a bit absolutist:

“When you think you control something, you’re wrong.”

No, at least not always. When I consciously make a decision, I’m taking control over my actions. When I choose to say something nice, hug someone, or do some other act of loving-kindness, I am indeed taking control over my pattern of behavior.

“Consider the fish. A fish swims in a chaotic sea that it cannot possibly control — much as we all do. The fish, unlike us, is under no illusion that it controls the sea, or other fish in the sea. The fish doesn’t even try to control where it ends up — it just swims, either going with the flow or dealing with the flow as it comes. It eats, and hides, and mates, but does not try to control a thing.”

It may be a bit presumptuous for any of us to try and understand the psychology of a fish, but I would argue that a fish is not under the assumption that it has no control over anything.

Have you ever tried to catch a fish with a net before? The fish does not sit idly, drifting with the current, going wherever destiny seems to take it; instead, it reacts to the net by moving away and seeking freedom.

How much of the fish’s actions are conscious or unconscious is beside the point, the fish acts as if it has a mind of it’s own (and I would argue it does!), and this mind determines some of that fish’s destiny.

If a boat comes by and kills the fish, sure, there may have been nothing in that fish’s capacity to change those circumstances. But just because some things are outside of our control doesn’t mean everything is outside of our control. Often there is a middle ground – and there should be a balanced understanding between what is inside our control and what is outside of our control.

The stoics were one of the first schools of philosophy to take this compatibilist approach to the question of free will vs. determinism. One of the core tenets of their philosophy was finding the balance between the consequences of free will (which they defined as “prohairesis”) and the consequences of what they called “cosmic determinism.” They believed both were intertwined into the laws of causality that determine our reality.

In other words, we are neither complete puppets to external circumstances, nor are we the sole determiners of our reality. There is in-fact a gray area between this black-and-white approach.

Buddhism takes a similar compatibilist approach, although it is more practical than theoretical. Buddhists believe that through meditation one can increase attention and gain insight into what thoughts and attitudes influence their behavior. Then, using this knowledge, we can learn how to change our pattern of behavior by living more consciously and adopting new attitudes. This is why mindfulness has shown to be effective for exercising better self-control over impulsive decision-making often found in those with addictions or Borderline Personality Disorder. (See Alan Wallace’s “Achieving Free Will: A Buddhist Perspective” (PDF) for more on this pragmatic approach to free will and determinism.)

The point I think Leo Babauta was trying to make is that many people sometimes overestimate their influence over their world. This can be an unhealthy attitude because it leads us to assign unnecessary blame for things that are outside of our control. A best friend may get into a car accident, an earthquake happens in Japan, or a mother has a miscarriage, and they exclaim “Why me?! What did I do to deserve this?” The truth is sometimes things just happen regardless of what we do. Just like the fish gets hit by a boat and killed, we too experience things that we have no power to predict or control. This is a very important warning to keep in mind, and I’ve expanded on this idea before in posts like not everything is in your control.

At the same time, some people also have the tendency to underestimate their influence over their world. They become something like a lifeless automaton, letting the wind dictate wherever they go, without a care in the world as to where it may lead them. At times, such a “letting go” attitude can be beneficial, but other times it is a denial of our ability to change ourselves for the better. When we see a handicapped person crossing a road, it is not outside of our control to walk over and help them. In such a case, a “whatever be, will be” attitude actually inhibits us from making a positive difference.

We can’t control many things. We certainly can’t control the past, and our influence on the future is also limited. But in the present moment – when we make conscious decisions – we are indeed exercising our control over our lives and the lives of others. I don’t think it is smart to deny this responsibility.

Leo says in his “Illusion of Control” post that his new attitude allows him to stop making goals and plans. I have a hard time believing him. So he doesn’t meet up with friends at a restaurant or bar? What about when he goes to a blogging expo (that doesn’t require planning?!) Is there also no effort or planning involved when he writes a new post or book? Although he uses absolutist words in his article, I find it hard to believe that he can consistently practice this attitude at all times. In fact, the very action of trying to write a post that (presumably) changes people’s minds to believe in the “illusion of control,” ironically assumes some realm of control.