Taking Control By Letting Go
You’re stuck in a spiral of worry.
A cyclone that has you in a chokehold.
A twister turning you around and around and around.
The stress of worrying about your business can cause real mental and physical pain that takes up brain space and stops progress.
So how can we stop the worry before it gets to that point?
First and foremost: Remember that your worry is not special.
It is incredibly common to worry about the future of your business.
But it’s important to remember that everyone worries! And most worries come from things we can’t control. We get so paralyzed by the what-ifs and the stress of potential bad things happening that we’re killing productivity – for ourselves and our team.
The best way to quickly break the overthinking cycle?
Think about what you can control. And address those items accordingly.
Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has a great model for putting worrisome situations into perspective.
Here’s what he has to say…
In every situation, there is:
The Circle of Control – things we directly control.
Your work ethic. Your attitude. Your actions. Your choices. Your communication style. How you manage your time. How you manage your client relationships. How you approach conversations with your team. How you react. How you prioritize and delegate. Are you sensing a theme here?…
The Circle of Influence – things we can affect, but we can’t control.
You can influence your team’s motivation and shape your company’s culture, but you can’t make someone else’s mind up for them. When it comes to clients, you can influence their experience through excellent service, but you can’t control how they respond to every interaction.
The Circle of Concern – things we care about that we can’t control.
These are factors that you can’t directly change or manipulate, but still need to be aware of and potentially plan for. Factors that live in this category include the overall economic and political climate, competitor actions, government regulations, industry trends, and natural disasters. Just to name a few 😉
The circle we focus on will get bigger! What we can’t control or influence… we can choose to let go of.
I shared this framework with a client recently, whose agency was competing for a big sales pitch.
They were spending a LOT of time and mental energy worrying about how their pitch would stack up to their competitors’.
My advice? Put all of their energy into the things they could control.
Things like making sure their pitch addressed the clients’ real pain points, creating an excellent presentation, and showing up in the room authentically as the fun loving team they are, relaxed and engaged.
And guess what?
They won the job!
The key to sustainable leadership is focusing on what you can control or influence, and training your mind to let go of the rest.
Here’s a quick exercise to help you start taking control of your worry:
- Make Two Lists– One for all the things in your business you CAN control or influence. And the other for all the things you have no power over. Be specific and be honest!
- Focus on the Control/Influence List– this is where your energy makes the most difference. As a leader you may not control much but you can influence a lot!
- Let Go of the Other Stuff – Give yourself permission not to fix everything. If worry creeps in, remind yourself of what is beyond your control.
Every business owner knows that energy is a finite resource. By channeling it on the things within your control and influence, you’ll find that the stress lightens, productivity increases…
And your business grows.
Takeaways:
- Tame worry – Make a list of the things you CAN affect and the things you CAN control, prioritize those items.
- Control your actions and attitudes.
- Influence what you can.
- Let go of things you can’t control.
- Consider picking up a copy of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
