In this article I will talk about a mental model called “circle of influence”, what it is, and why it is important. Let's get started!
What is your Circle of Influence? Your circle of influence are the things that you can control or have influence over, such as your attitude, your behaviors, and your words. Your circle of concern is the things that you are concerned about but may not have influence over, such as others actions and emotions, the news, and politics. Even though the things in your concern category can be important, you never want to spend all your mental energy thinking and focusing on the things in the concern category but things you can’t have influence over. Because if you are focusing on those things then you will waste a lot of time and energy that you could be using focusing on the things that are in your circle of influence.
Why is it important? It is important to focus on your circle of influence aka things that you have influence over, because you have limited time and energy. If you don’t know about the circle of influence then you can waste time, energy, and money. For example let's say you were betting on a baseball game that one of the teams would win, this is something out of your circle of influence and it is something completely based on luck. Also, there is a 50% chance that you will make money and a 50% that you will lose money. These kinds of circumstances can get dangerous in extreme cases. The circle of influence mental model can be very helpful when you are working on managing your time. Thank you for reading my article about the circle of influence. If you're interested in a similar topic, you can check out my article about Not Knowing!