Something that I often come across lately is fear. And the stress that fears cause. First, it was the pandemic, now it’s world politics. Let’s get one thing straight: both events are terrible. But both are characterized by the fact that we have little or no influence on them. It is precisely this that makes us feel powerless and sometimes afraid.
What can you do with this fear? Very little. There is no way we can change the control of such situations. What we can do instead is change our perspective. To consider reality and distinguish between things that are part of the circle of concern and things that belong to our circle of influence.
Steven Covey introduced these two circles. To visualize this analysis of your own world and worldview, draw a circle on a piece of paper. This is the circle of concern. Within this circle, you draw another smaller circle. That is your circle of influence.
In the circle of concern, you write down things that concern you in general, and in the circle the things of influence you write down things that concern you and on which you also have influence. Gaining insight into what you actually have an influence on and focusing on this creates an overview and a sense of control.