FROM INNER STILLNESS TO OUTER AGENCY:

How Heartfulness Builds an Internal Locus of Control and Workplace Success

- A practical case for Heartfulness as the engine of ownership, resilience, and performance from RAVI VENKATESAN.

Introduction

In strategic execution and leadership, what separates resilient achievers from those overwhelmed by circumstances is not just skill—it is the lens through which we interpret events. Psychologist Julian Rotter referred to this lens as the locus of control (LoC). “Locus of control” refers to whether people believe that outcomes arise primarily from their own actions (internal locus of control) or from external factors, such as luck, fate, or the influence of powerful others (external locus of control). As I shared in my earlier series, The Heartful Strategist, our inner state shapes the story we tell ourselves—and therefore the options we can perceive and pursue.

Heart-centered meditation nurtures inner steadiness, clarity, and agency.

Destiny x Free Will: Daaji's Practical Resolution

Many leaders secretly wrestle with a fatalistic question: Is destiny fixed, or do we genuinely have free will? Daaji's answer is both elegant and operational: Some elements are fixed, but practice expands freedom. Through daily Heartfulness—meditation, cleaning, and prayerful intention—we clear impressions, refine our attention, and align our values with action. In that process, we are no longer only the product of prior causes; we become designers of our destiny. This is the engineering of an internal locus of control.

From external to internal locus of control: shifting from “why is this happening to me?” to “what can I influence now?”