CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE Things, which you have direct influence over, are in your circle of influence. For example, you have direct influence over the following:

- Your attitude
- How you respond to situations
- Whether or not you will plan out your day
- What time you will wake up
- What time you will go to sleep
- How much effort you will put into your business today
- Whether or not you back up the data on your computer today
- Answering customer service email in a timely manner
- What you will eat today
- Whether or not you will take the time to exercise today

You get the point?

CIRCLE OF CONCERN Things over which you are concerned about, but do not have direct influence over. For example, you may be concerned about the weather, but no matter what you do or what you say will not influence the weather. You may be concerned about earthquakes, but no matter what you say or what you do, will not have any influence on when or where the next earthquake will occur.

So many people concentrate or worry about things that they don't have any influence over. Why is this? As if wasting your entire day worrying or concentrating over something that you have no influence over will actually help.

To succeed, you need to concentrate your efforts on things that you have influence over (your circle of influence). Make a list of things within your circle of influence and a list of things within your circle of concern.

Items in your circle of concern must meet the following criteria:

No matter what you say or what you do, will not have any influece over that item.

REAL WORLD EXAMPLE:

Ten years ago, a friend of mine went through a divorce. His wife had an affair and abandoned him and his son. Though my friend was hurt emotionally, he remained strong. He turned out to be a great father and built a very successful million dollar business from the ground up.

When I asked him how he was able to get over the divorce and succeed, he replied, "I made a list of things that were in my circle of influence and in my circle of concern. By putting these lists on paper I was able to see and actually accept that there were certain things that I no longer had any influence over.

By putting my (ex)wife in my circle of concern list, I accepted the fact that no matter what I said or what I did would not change what had happened. So even though I was concerned about her, I accepted the fact that she was no longer within my circle of influence.

Instead of concentrating on the things in my circle of concern and feeling sorry for myself, I concentrated on the things in my circle of influence, such as
- taking care of my son
- being the best father I could be
- spending quality time with him
- taking care of myself physically
- taking time to plan
- keeping a positive attitude towards life
- planning/investing for son's college tuition
- being the top manager in my industry
- building and growing my businesses

By concentrating on my circle of influence, my circle of influence continues to grow in both my personal life and business life.

In my personal life, I got re-married to a wonderful woman and we have been happily married for seven years. We have a wonderful family and a great life.

In my business life, I went from managing one location for the company I worked for, to overseeing their entire operation in five states, to owning my own million dollar business.

Life just keeps on getting better."

BOTTOM LINE:
The person that concentrates on his circle of influence will succeed, while the person that concentrates on his circle of concern will be left wondering why he did not succeed.