Your Circle of Influence
(posted in first week of “social distancing” and sheltering in place due to 2020’s COVID pandemic)
This has certainly proven to be one of the most remarkable and surreal times in my life, and it is nowhere near over yet.
Everything seemed to be going great, and in just a couple weeks, the whole world changed.
During some brief moments of clarity over the past few days, I’ve been reminded of Stephen Covey’s “circle of concern and circle of influence” concept from his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
In simple terms, we all have a tendency to spend way too much time focused on our circle of concern, things like:
The economy
World politics
The weather
What someone said about us
How another parent is raising their kids
These are all things on our radar, but we have very little, if any, control over them.
And the list of “concerns” can often times be innumerable.
However, your circle of influence are those things you actually have total or partial control over, such as:
How you respond to changes in the economy
Your attitude towards others and your reaction to them
How you parent your children
What things you focus your time and efforts on
This list of things you can actually “influence” is far shorter.
Your circle of concern…
Creates stress and anxiety
Risks damaging relationships
Freezes you with fear and a sense of being overwhelmed
Kills productivity
Whereas, your circle of influence…
Is proactive
Is focused
Defines your priorities
Creates high impact
If we would all focus more of our time, energy, brainpower, and talk on the latter, we’d be far better off, more content, and happier.
Stephen Covey also once said, “There are three constants in life…change, choice and principles.”
I’ve never seen things change globally and in everyday life as quickly as they have the past couple weeks.
As a result, now, more than ever, we are called to lean on our principles to drive our choices.
How will we react to the circumstance we are forced to face?
Will we allow fear and anxiety to take over and cripple us?
Now is the time to focus on the essentials and take action even if that means going into fundamental survival mode for a few weeks or months.
Do what’s necessary to protect yourself, your family, and your neighbors.
And to the extent you can, serve others and give to worthy causes.
But also, be planning for the future.
The height of this crisis will hopefully be short-lived.
What will you do now, so when the bell rings marking the end of this crisis, you’ll be ready to take advantage of opportunities that will inevitably lie ahead?
Although painful, and likely to get more painful in the near future, we are going to get through this…together.