Wikipedia
Self-directedness is a personality trait of self-determination, that is, the ability to regulate and adapt behavior to the demands of a situation in order to achieve personally chosen goals and values. It is one of the "character" dimensions in Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Cloninger has described it as "willpower", defined as "a metaphorical abstract concept to describe the extent to which a person identifies the imaginal self as an integrated, purposeful whole individual, rather than a disorganized set of reactive impulses." Cloninger's research has found that low self-directedness is a major common feature of personality disorders generally. Self-directedness is conceptually related to locus of control. That is, low self-directedness is associated with external locus of control, whereas high self-directedness is associated with internal locus of control. In the five factor model of personality, self-directedness has a strong inverse association with neuroticism and a strong positive association with conscientiousness.