Now that we have discussed working with the end in mind, proactivity and the power of choice, I want to discuss two very important circles in your life; the circle of concern and the circle of influence. Picture two circles, one slightly smaller that resides within the other. Like how a tire rides on a rim. The tire would be your circle of concern. Within this circle of concern resides everything you have ever thought of in your life that concerns you. This is anything you worry about; are excited about; are angry about; are happy about. They could be a concern for the environment, or excitement for a wrestling match, or anger about war, whatever the case may be, it resides within your circle of concern. The smaller circle or the “rim” is your circle of influence. Anything that concerns you and you can somehow control it or influence the outcome of it resides within you circle of influence. For example you may have a very tough opponent to wrestle. You may be feeling anxiety, fear, worry, excitement, anger, etc. Any concern you have about this opponent falls with in you circle of concern. How you choose to view these concerns determines whether they are in the circle of concern or the circle of influence. If you worry about how tough HE is, than your working in your circle of concern. If you worry about what YOU can do to offset his toughness, than you are working within you circle of influence. If you fear his devastating double leg takedown than you are working in the circle of concern. If you are worried how you will offset his double leg takedown, than you are working in the circle of influence. What it really comes down to is if you ever go outside yourself for the answer to a problem, than that is the first problem.
So each time you are concerned about something always ask yourself what can you do to fix it. If it is something that is absolutely out of your control, than you need to figure out how to live with it. Spending precious mental energy on worrying about uncontrollable things is crazy.
Dan Gable prior to the 1972 Olympic Summer Games in Munich, would wake up in the middle of the night and say to himself “the Russians are training!” and he would do push-ups or sit-ups until he was exhausted again. To me that is an amazing example of someone working within their circle of influence. He made to conscious choice to take an outside stimulus like the Russians training which he had zero control over, and make it an internal choice to trump their training by training himself harder. That is an extreme example of working from the inside out. His concern of having undisputed victories was the catalyst for his choice to train so hard.
You can increase the size of your circle of influence by always being proactive. Asking the right questions of yourself; doing what is principally right; working from your values; using you power of choice. All these together will increase you circle of influence to the point where it may be the same size as your circle of concern. Just remember their will be people out there that do not understand these tools, and might even resent or dislike your approach. Don’t listen to them, just remember that inside you is all that matters.
So the next time you are concerned with something, make sure you understand where it lies within your circles. Next, we will discuss emotions and how they should be utilized rather than ignored.
Thanks,
Gerry
