Habit 1 Be Proactive
Habit 1 Be Proactive
Habit 1 Be Proactive
Think about the outside circle- the Circle of Concern. What can we NOT control? (weather,
politics, behavior of people we have no contact with, natural disasters like earthquake)
Spending time and energy worrying about these things robs us of time and energy we could
use to exert influence.
The middle circle is where we can have indirect control or influence. What would that be?
We can influence our neighborhood, family, religious community, work environment, friends.
We can influence, but not control.
The inner circle- Control- is the place where we can have real control- over our own
behavior, our actions, our attitudes.
We can discover much about how Proactive we are by asking ourselves these questions:
Where do I spend most of my mental energy? Which Circle is the greatest source of my
worry? How much of my conversation is spent talking about things I cannot influence?
Reactive people focus their efforts in the outside Circle of Concern.
They focus on the weaknesses of other people and circumstances over which they have no
control.
Their focus results in blaming and accusing attitudes, reactive language, and increased
feelings of victimization.
The negative energy generated by that focus, combined with neglect in areas they could do
something about, causes their Circle of Influence to shrink.
Covey recommends that we focus our thoughts, conversations, and energy on the
Circle of Influence, trying to expand the size of that circle.
Proactive people focus their efforts on increasing their influence.
They work on the things they can do something about.
Lets pause for a moment so you can think more about where your time and energy
are being directed.