What you can control and influence and change has limits. There are many things outside of your control and influence. I made an airport run yesterday to pick up my wife, which is a very very common experience in our lives. But unlike the short 30 minute trip this would be in Skopje, it is 90 miles trip to Atlanta, and can take from 1:45 to 3 hours on normal days. If there is an accident somewhere along the way, it can take far longer. There are probably 50,000 cars moving between here and the airport at any given moment, and any one of them can become the bottleneck that changes everything. All beyond my control and influence. And 100 other factors that are similar between here and there that I also cannot control nor influence.
That point made, this chapter is about what I can control and influence and change. Yes there are lots of things that I can’t control, but I don’t have to let that lead me to be AWOL about the things that I can control. You and I have control of our responses. Our responses even to the things we can’t control, and the unexpected events that occur. My wife’s flight landed two and a half hours late yesterday. My response was to find a comfortable chair and read a good book and enjoy a few extra hours of solitude. No fretting, no frustration, no regrets, no churning.
But better than that is the control we have over our initiatives. We don’t have to wait until things happen, we can make things happen. We can take the initiative, plan for contingencies, look for the possible events that may occur outside of our control and take precautions. This is frankly a far superior decision than just responding well, even though that has its place in the scheme of our lives.
Focus on what you can control and influence and change. Respond well to those you can’t. This is the winning combination of those thrive.
That point made, this chapter is about what I can control and influence and change. Yes there are lots of things that I can’t control, but I don’t have to let that lead me to be AWOL about the things that I can control. You and I have control of our responses. Our responses even to the things we can’t control, and the unexpected events that occur. My wife’s flight landed two and a half hours late yesterday. My response was to find a comfortable chair and read a good book and enjoy a few extra hours of solitude. No fretting, no frustration, no regrets, no churning.
But better than that is the control we have over our initiatives. We don’t have to wait until things happen, we can make things happen. We can take the initiative, plan for contingencies, look for the possible events that may occur outside of our control and take precautions. This is frankly a far superior decision than just responding well, even though that has its place in the scheme of our lives.
Focus on what you can control and influence and change. Respond well to those you can’t. This is the winning combination of those thrive.
