The Mulry 5-Step Method For Internal Locus Of Control

Developing an Internal Locus of Control means learning to recognize how your choices, actions, and expectations can influence what happens next. The Mulry Method turns that principle into a practical 5-step process for Self-Learning and positive change.

The process helps you identify what concerns you, become more relaxed, define what you want to accomplish, take Focused Action, and evaluate what happens. It reflects one of Dr. Reaume Carroll Mulry’s central principles: We become what we do.

You learn something. Through practice, you observe what happens and make adjustments. Then you practice again. Over time, this process helps you become a more effective Self-Learner and strengthens your Internal Locus of Control.

The five steps are:

Define the problem
Calm your nerves
Set clear goals
Take Focused Action
Measure your progress

What Is An Internal Locus Of Control?

Psychologist Julian Rotter introduced Locus of Control within his work on Social Learning Theory. An Internal Locus of Control reflects an expectation that your own behavior can influence outcomes. An External Locus of Control places greater emphasis on forces outside your control, such as luck, circumstances, or the actions of other people.

Internal control does not mean believing you control everything that happens. Many circumstances are beyond your control. The important distinction is recognizing where your actions can make a difference and developing useful ways to respond.

This idea became an important foundation of the Mulry Method. Rather than simply telling yourself to think positively or try harder, you identify concerns, understand your responses, develop a strategy, act on it, and evaluate the results.

Learn more about Julian Rotter and Social Learning Theory.

Step 1: Define The Problem Using The Personal Concerns Inventory

Before deciding what to do, you need to understand what concerns you. The Personal Concerns Inventory (PCI) helps you identify and prioritize concerns across important areas of your life.

With more than 1,000 possible concerns, the PCI provides a structured way to determine what deserves your attention. Rather than beginning with a vague feeling that something is wrong, you can identify a Primary Concern and use it as the starting point for Self-Learning.

Concerns And Expectancy

In Social Learning Theory, expectancy refers to what you anticipate will happen in a particular situation. Negative expectancy can take different forms:

High expectancy for an unfavorable outcome: “I fully expect to lose the job I love.”
Low expectancy for a favorable outcome: “I don’t expect to get the job I might apply for.”

Expectations matter because they can influence what you do next. Anticipating failure may lead you to hesitate, avoid a situation, or stop trying. Your behavior can then affect the outcome and reinforce the original expectation.

Even familiar ideas can carry different meanings, expectations, and values from one person to another. A World Without Love illustrates this through one of the most familiar, yet difficult to define, concepts in everyday life.

The Role Of Neuroception

Thoughts are only part of the experience. Your body is responding too. In Polyvagal Theory, neuroception describes the nervous system’s detection of cues associated with safety, uncertainty, or threat without requiring conscious awareness.

Imagine preparing for an important presentation while expecting that you will perform poorly. Your heart races, your palms sweat, and your stomach tightens. The negative expectancy and physiological response may begin reinforcing one another, increasing hesitation or avoidance.

Recognizing both provides useful information. Instead of treating the reaction as something that simply happens to you, you can learn how you respond and begin developing a more useful response.

To learn more about how these two concepts can be considered together, see Expectancy And Neuroception: Connecting Social Learning And Polyvagal Theory.

Why The PCI Is Essential

The PCI helps bring clarity to this process by identifying and prioritizing your Primary Concern. In about 20 minutes, it provides a structured picture of what concerns you. Your Primary Concern can then become the foundation for setting goals and developing Focused Action.

Benefits Of Defining The Problem

Find your focus and eliminate distractions
Overcome indecision and move past uncertainty
Create a strategy for success
Use attention to stay on what matters
Succeed through consistent Focused Action

FOCUS captures what this first step is designed to accomplish. Defining the problem gives you something specific to work with rather than reacting to a vague sense of uncertainty.

With your Primary Concern identified, the next step is to work with the emotional and physiological responses that may interfere with effective action.

Step 2: Calm Your Nerves With Relaxation Therapy

Emotions are not experienced only as thoughts. Tension, breathing, heart rate, posture, and other physiological changes can become part of an emotional response. Dr. Mulry developed Relaxation Therapy beginning in 1976 as a practical way to learn relaxation through repeated practice.

Relaxation Therapy uses rhythmic breathing, guided relaxation, body awareness, and sounds of nature to help you become more familiar with releasing tension. With practice, you learn to recognize the difference between tension and relaxation and become better prepared to respond when pressure rises.

Why Relaxation Matters

Relaxation is not intended to make your concerns disappear. It is a skill that can help you become more Relaxed, Balanced, Flexible, and Focused so you are better prepared to deal with them.

This distinction is important to the Mulry Method. You are not simply trying to feel better. You are learning a useful response that can support clearer thinking, decision-making, and Focused Action.

Access the full collection of Relaxation Therapy recordings.

Step 3: Set Clear, Actionable Goals

Once you have identified your Primary Concern and are better prepared to work with it, you can define what you want to accomplish. A concern identifies the problem. A goal gives you direction.

For example: “I’m drinking six drinks a day and want to reduce that to two.”

That goal provides something specific that can be acted upon and evaluated. A vague intention such as “I want to do better” does not provide the same direction.

Clear goals help you:

Clarify what you want to accomplish
Identify actions that could move you toward it
Determine whether your strategy is working
Adjust your approach when necessary

Goal-setting is more than deciding what you want. You are developing a strategy that can be put into practice and evaluated. A useful goal should eventually allow you to answer an important question: Did what I did make a difference?

Step 4: Take Focused Action

Understanding a problem and setting a goal are not enough. At some point, what you have learned has to become action. Dr. Mulry called this Focused Action.

Focused Action is purposeful behavior directed toward what you are trying to accomplish. It connects what you have learned about yourself with what you actually do. This is where Internal Locus of Control becomes practical.

You cannot control every outcome, but you can identify actions available to you, choose a strategy, put it into practice, and observe the results. That might mean practicing a new skill, changing a familiar behavior, approaching something you have avoided, or responding differently to a recurring situation.

Repeated action gives you experience, and experience gives you information. You can use that information to decide what to do next. This is Self-Learning in action and an expression of Dr. Mulry’s principle: We become what we do.

Step 5: Measure Your Progress

The final step is not simply deciding whether you succeeded or failed. It is evaluating what happened and using that information to guide what you do next.

Return to your original concern and compare it with your goal. Consider the actions you took and what followed. By retaking the Personal Concerns Inventory over time, you can also see whether the importance or intensity of your concerns has changed. Your “This Is Me!” report provides a record that can help you observe those changes.

Measurement creates feedback, and feedback makes Self-Learning possible. You learn something, practice it, and observe what happens. Based on what you discover, you make adjustments and practice again.

If an approach works, you have evidence that it may be useful again. When it does not produce the result you expected, you have learned something valuable as well. You can reconsider your expectations, change your strategy, develop another skill, or try a different action.

Internal Locus Of Control And Self-Learning

Research on Locus of Control has examined its relationship with health behavior, achievement, coping, well-being, and performance. An Internal Locus of Control is generally associated with a stronger expectation that personal actions can influence outcomes.

The Mulry Method makes that principle practical by asking: What can you learn to do?

Internality is not about pretending circumstances do not matter or assuming that success depends entirely on you. It means recognizing where your behavior can have an effect and learning how to act effectively within those circumstances.

The five steps create a practical sequence:

Concern → Relaxation → Goal → Focused Action → Feedback

The value of the process comes from feedback. Each attempt gives you information you can use to refine your expectations, strengthen useful skills, and choose what to do next.

For more of the psychological background, see The Science Behind Social Learning Theory.

Putting The 5-Step Method Into Practice

The Mulry 5-Step Method does not promise that every problem can be solved or every outcome controlled. It provides a way to become more skillful in how you respond to the concerns and challenges you face.

By defining the problem, calming your nerves, setting clear goals, taking Focused Action, and measuring what happens, you turn experience into information you can use. Over time, practice can strengthen the connection between what you understand, what you intend to do, and what you actually do.

The Mulry Method Self-Care 10-Step Guide expands this process and connects it with other Self-Learning tools developed by Dr. Mulry. You can also watch the 10-Step Video Series and begin putting these principles into practice.