Internal vs. External

by Matthew Best

This past week I listened to the book Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.I really enjoyed the book.The authors explored areas that most people never even begin to think about and ask questions that no one else is asking. The theme that I took away from the book was the internal vs. the external.The authors gave several examples of how so many external things really have no impact on the outcome of people.

For example - The authors cited a study that was conducted on the Chicago Public Schools (CSD).The CSD opened their students up to school choice a few years ago.Considering the shear number of students this district has, the administration decided that there would a lottery for children whose parents decided they wanted to participate in the school choice program.

The students' performance was tracked through their schooling.Not surprising was the finding that the students who participated in the school choice program and changed where they attended school improved their scores.Likewise, those students who did not participate and stayed in their school did poorly.

The real surprise was the third group of students - those who chose to participate in the program, but were not picked in the lottery. Those students stayed in their current chools. The findings showed that these students also improved their scores. The conclusion that was made was that school choice had no impact on the students' scores. What mattered was the decision by the parents and students that their current situation was not acceptable. The mere fact that these students had decided that they wanted better for themselves caused them to do what they needed to do to improve their scores. This was an internal change.

As I've said plenty of times - attitude drives behavior which drives your results. These students shifted their attitude. As a result, they changed what they did. What are the shifts in your internal attitudes and beliefs that will allow you to be successful?

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