Spheres of Control, Influence, and Concern

Sphere of Control

Much of how our society and its organizations work depends on a misplaced expectation of control.

How much can you really control when you, for example, author and send an email? You can control what words you write, but you can’t control what someone understands or feels when they read them. You can control when you send the email (assuming your app, the server, and the network are working), but not when a person receives it, if they receive it at all.

When you really boil it down, we can actually control very little.

Sphere of Influence

These are the people and situations you can make some change in by doing something.

By writing an article (output you control), you inform and persuade your readers (influence). You can’t control what your readers think.

Sphere of Concern

The sphere of concern covers everything that you need to know and respond to, but that you can’t influence.