As self-help expert Stephen Covey explains, a circle of control can help you focus on improving happiness and living a fulfilling life. It’ll help you prioritize the things that matter most so you don’t waste your time and energy on other things.
Stephen Covey is an author and businessman who wrote “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. In his book, Covey discusses the circle of control and how it can promote happiness in your life.
You can’t always be sure things will work out how you hoped. Instead, you can only control how hard you work toward the goal. You can only do your part and let the rest play out.
The circle of control helps you stop thinking and worrying about things you can’t change. When you let go of these worrisome thoughts, you’ll notice an improvement in your life. It allows you to regain power over your life.
What is Covey’s Circle of Control
Stephen Covey discusses the circle of control and how it can improve happiness. He believes that all issues in your life fall into two categories, including the circles of:
Concern: represents everything that worries you, and you can’t change all of them. Influence: represents what you can influence or change. Control: represents the portion of overlap that you can make a definitive decision about.
Your circle of influence includes things within your concern, but not everything. Covey says that all issues in your life fall into one of the two categories.
Your circle of control includes the things within your circle of influence and are also in your circle of concern. It’s the things you want to do something about and can directly influence. There is still an area you can’t do anything about, and that’s where Covey’s concept comes in.
You can only influence the things you can put effort into. If you can’t do anything productive, you likely can’t change the situation, even if you try. The circle of concern is even narrower, as it includes only things you can directly control.
To narrow it down, it’s as follows:
Circle of Concern
This circle can include anything that causes worrisome thoughts. It involves things like war, politics, pandemics, weather, and issues with your daily life. Anything vital to you falls within this category, regardless of how it affects you or if you can influence it.
Circle of Influence
This circle involves what you care about and can influence in some way. You might have to improve your skills or take extra steps, but you can make a difference.
Circle of Control
This circle involves the things you worry about, can influence, and can make an effective plan for. It also includes how you respond to external situations. This circle includes your attitude, thoughts, and enthusiasm for the situation. These things must also be within your circle of influence.
Think about how you can directly influence or change a situation. All that matters is whether you care and can do something.
Where to Focus Your Energy?
Understanding the circle of control helps you figure out where you should focus your energy. Put your time into anything that falls within the circle of influence.
It might help if you create your circles on a piece of paper. Layer them to show what you worry about compared to what you can influence. Then, narrow your focus to only the things in your circle …
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