What can you control?

I’ll give you a clue.

It’s a lot less than you think.

Why am I asking you about what you can control?

Because once you realize how much of life is out of your control, you can begin to focus only on that which you can control.

The only things you can control are your thoughts and actions. However, even your thoughts and actions will find ways to slip away from your control for most of your day.

Focusing only on what you can control takes effort and discipline. It’s very easy to get distracted and let your mind wander into the realm of all the things you wish you could control. Especially the idea of attempting to control other people’s actions – because that’s a losing proposition, and you’re almost guaranteed to be disappointed.

So how do you focus on what you can control?

You shift your attention from outcome to thoughts and actions you can control.

Since you can only control what you think and do, there’s very little to gain from spending energy on thinking about what might happen. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan or have goals or ideas about how you’d like life to be. It just means that once you’ve thought about the future, bring your attention back to what you can control.

So, as you go about your day, make a mental note, or if you’re so inclined, a physical list of all the things that are within and beyond your control. If you do this correctly, you’ll soon realize that the items listed under what you can’t control will quickly outnumber that which you can. Once you have your list, double down on controlling your thoughts and actions. Doing so will give you a greater sense of confidence when dealing with everything that’s out of your control.

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