Prompt: What things in my circle of control do I need to take more responsibility for? What in the ‘not in control of’ circle do I need to let go of?
Focusing only on what you can control is a great way to both change your life and stress less!
For example:
Instead of worrying about what your friends think about your new study habits and plans, focus on sticking to those plans and showing through your actions that it is a good system!
Instead of worrying if a high school will accept you, try to focus on improving your test scores and essays as best you can.
What is the Circle of Control?
The circle of control is a visual representation of the things people can and cannot control. For example, negative events like the pandemic, how others treat you, and the past are things that you have no power over. On the other hand, you have the ability to:
Take care of yourself
Behave well
Work on your personal goals
Set boundaries to protect your peace
Decide what you prioritize
The list goes on.
Do you know the difference between the weather and your mood? You can’t control whether it rains or not, but you can definitely decide how it affects you.
This is what the circle of control means. Essentially, it teaches you to focus on the things that you can actually do something about to increase your resilience, productivity, and success.
What is the Circle of Control?
The circle of control is a visual representation of the things people can and cannot control. For example, negative events like the pandemic, how others treat you, and the past are things that you have no power over. On the other hand, you have the ability to:
Take care of yourself
Behave well
Work on your personal goals
Circle of Concern
The circle of concern is the outermost circle and it shows things we often worry about but cannot control no matter what we do. It includes the weather, a family member’s health, war, politics, climate change, etc. Focusing on them can make a person feel powerless and frequently worried, because truth be told, there’s an infinite list of things that we care about but are out of our power.
Circle of Influence
After the circle of concern, we go a little deeper and enter the circle of influence. It’s an area where we have some impact, thus the term “influence.” Take, for example, a classmate who’s always behaving rudely. You know that you cannot control when he stops behaving that way, but it may be possible for you (and everyone else in the room) to inspire him to be more kind by serving as an example!
Circle of Control
This is the innermost circle, which consists of all the things that we can directly impact. It’s where we have full control, regardless of the events that transpire under the circles of concern and influence.
I’d like to call this circle your “inner life” simply because it involves you and only you. Some circle of control examples include your attitude, what you read and watch, how you respond to others, and where you put your energy. Mastering this circle takes practice, especially that we’re faced with a lot of things that affect us emotionally.
It’s important to focus the majority of our time and energy on what we can control, since trying to put energy into what we can’t control really doesn’t create progress in our lives.
Original article linked here: https://mentalhealthcenterkids.com/blogs/articles/what-is-the-circle-of-control
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