Many of
you have heard about the “circles of influence” and the “comfort zone”. Today
I’d like to talk a little more about these concepts.
Let’s
start with the first one, the circle of influence. To better understand this
concept it’s useful to picture two concentric circles, where the smallest is
the circle of influence and the biggest one is the circle of concern. The
circle of influence represents the situations we can change, those we can
control.
This way,
whenever we hit a crossroad, we can assess if the situation belongs in our
circle of influence or our circle of concern. That is, if the situation is
something we can take care of, something we have control of, or rather something
that concerns me but is beyond my possibilities. A typical and I think very
familiar example for us is the traffic jams in Caracas: it’s very likely each
one of you would agree they are stressful. However, a solution to Caracas’
traffic escapes our circle of influence. Luckily we can always improve our
situation by taking actions that minimize their impact, e.g. leaving earlier to
avoid rush hour, taking the subway instead of driving, all the way to more
radical solutions like buying a bike, moving closer to work or even to a
different city and job. In any case, these are decisions that can alleviate my traffic
related.
I’ve
realized that if there’s something we have to strive for, it’s making our
circle of influence grow steadily. This way, if I’m facing a problem (initially
in my circle of concern), I’ll be able to control my actions and reactions to
solve it, bringing it into the circle of influence. I’ve read that proactive
people focus their energy in solving situations within their circle of influence,
thereby expanding this circle every time.
Another
concept I’d like to discuss is the comfort
zone, the space where I’m comfortable with what I’m doing even though it may
be hard work, because I have the expertise to do it right. Being in the comfort
zone lets me feel good about what I do because I’ve mastered that skill, I’ve
become an expert on the matter. However, it’s so important, so valuable for our
personal and professional growth to step outside of these boundaries and go
into the unknown, facing uncertainty (or what some authors call the learning
zone).
When I
visualized the comfort zone I never pictured it as a circle, but just like with
the circles of influence and concern, we can use the same analogy and see our
comfort zone as a smaller area encircled by a zone of uncertainty (or
learning). After reading this
article and seeing that image, I
realized that both concepts are closely related, close enough to be viewed as
synonyms. Personally, I think they’re different. Widening my circle of
influence lets me be the master of my actions and reactions toward the situations
in my life, having greater control over them. Similarly, expanding my comfort
zone lets me have new tools to solve things I couldn’t solve before, acquire
expertise in new situations, and broaden my knowledge.
As both
circles grow, we grow as people.
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