Focus on Your Circle of Influence

Score 100 on the things you can control

In life, and especially in uncertain times, there are endless sources of "news" telling you what you should be worried about. Some of it is legitimate, some less so. Most of the stuff we find ourselves worrying about we have absolutely no ability, willingness, skillset, or influence to impact - we're observers.

Stephen Covey talks about this concept at length in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He says there are two concentric circles that govern our lives - the Circle of Concern and Circle of Influence. The Circle of Concern covers all of the things in life we spend time worrying about with no ability to control. The Circle of Influence is just that, things we can control - what books we read, how we raise our kids, what we choose to work on, how we behave at work.

The advice I am giving to my teams right now, and advice I am trying to heed myself is to focus on what you can control. Keep your circle small, focus on being more effective, get stuff done. Working within your circle of control expands it, leading to feelings of accomplishment.