{"id":918,"date":"2019-06-29T19:05:16","date_gmt":"2019-06-29T19:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janbosch.com\/blog\/?p=918"},"modified":"2019-06-29T19:05:17","modified_gmt":"2019-06-29T19:05:17","slug":"focus-on-what-you-can-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janbosch.com\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/06\/29\/focus-on-what-you-can-control\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus On What You Can Control"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Image by Pexels from Pixabay\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the years (decades by now) that I\u2019ve worked in industry and academia, I noticed a common pattern in organizations that don\u2019t perform well or that have great difficulty delivering on expectations: a culture has taken hold that explains phenomena in and around the organization in terms of factors that are not under the control of the organization. Instead, these factors originate outside the organization\u2019s walls and, to a large extent, aren\u2019t even influenceable by the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with this culture is that it has a\n fractal nature: the organization blames the outside world for its lack \nof ability to change and improve. Functions inside the organization \nblame the organization. Units blame the function. Teams blame the units \nand individuals blame the teams. The result is an organization that is \nin paralysis and can only continue to execute the processes that it has \nalways done and that is unable to change in response to changes in the \noutside world. This leads to a brittle organization: it\u2019s very rigid and\n doesn\u2019t move an inch until the outside force overcomes the internal \nresistance and then the organization breaks in fundamental ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n problem is that when we focus our mental energy and intellectual \ncapacities on the things we can\u2019t control, we automatically put \nourselves in a victim mode and view ourselves as passive entities that \nare subject to the whims of forces outside of us. As a consequence, we \nstop taking responsibility for our destiny and we throw up our hands in \nthe air and wait for Lady Fortune to strike us with good or bad events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m\n far from the first person to identify this problem. My favorite source \nfor this line of thinking is Stoicism, where one of the basic principles\n is to focus your energy on what you can control and leave the rest to \nthe gods. Stoicism has an unfairly negative brand in western society \nbecause most people misinterpret the philosophy. It doesn\u2019t tell you to \nignore and suppress your emotions (a common misconception) but rather \nsuggests that letting your emotions being controlled by factors outside \nyourself is a recipe for suffering, which is the same message as \npropagated by Buddhism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n one of his books, Stephen Covey presents the model of three circles: \nthe circle of control, the circle of influence and the circle of \nconcern. As the names imply, the circle of control includes everything \nthat\u2019s under your full control and where you need no agreement, \nalignment or permission with or from anyone else. The circle of \ninfluence is where decisions are taken by others but where you have the \nability to influence the outcome. The circle of concern includes issues \nthat you care about but that are completely outside your influence or \ncontrol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most issues that arise in companies, as well as in your \npersonal life are concerned with mixing up the proper allocation of \nissues to circles. Trying to control something that actually is outside \nyour circle of control is very frustrating as your actions often go \nunrewarded. Trying to influence something that\u2019s in your circle of \nconcern leads to you feeling powerless and useless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organizations \nthat don\u2019t perform well tend to have as a common characteristic that \nthey assign factors to the circle of concern that actually are in their \ncircles of influence and control. So, rather than engaging with the \nissues at hand and doing something about the problem, everyone complains\n and waits for others to fix things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concluding, both organizations and individuals easily fall into the trap of believing that the things that matter are completely outside their control. Even if it\u2019s true to the largest extent, the correct response is to take charge and seek to control and influence as much of the context in which you operate. Of course, we all understand that there are many situations and outcomes where we have little or no control but rather than focusing our energy on those things, focus your energy on what you can control and influence. Wasting your precious mental resources on worrying and complaining about things without taking charge is a monumental waste of your human potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get more insights earlier, sign up for my newsletter at<\/em>jan@janbosch.com<\/em><\/a> or follow me on<\/em> janbosch.com\/blog<\/em><\/a>, LinkedIn (<\/em>linkedin.com\/in\/janbosch<\/em><\/a>) or Twitter (<\/em>@JanBosch<\/em><\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the years (decades by now) that I\u2019ve worked in industry and academia, I noticed a common pattern in organizations that don\u2019t perform well or that have great difficulty delivering on expectations: a culture has taken hold that explains phenomena in and around the organization in terms of factors that are not under the control … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/janbosch.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/janbosch.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/janbosch.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janbosch.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janbosch.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/janbosch.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":920,"href":"https:\/\/janbosch.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918\/revisions\/920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/janbosch.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janbosch.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janbosch.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}