A significant controllable to business success is your psychological game – what happens between the ears.
Business is not for the feint-hearted. It takes courage to wake up each day and embrace the challenges that your business throws at you.
When facing challenges, I find it useful to split them intro Controllables & Uncontrollables.
Controllables are things that I can control. They are in my sphere of influence. I can do
something to affect the outcome. Examples include; making a phone call, sending an email or scheduling a meeting. I might research an answer or engage a specialist to help me.
Identifying Controllables and mapping out a series of steps I commit to taking, helps me to focus on the process rather than the problem.
If I strategize the steps I need to take and execute the actions, I’m comfortable that I have influenced the Controllable to an outcome.
Win, lose or draw on resolving my challenge, I feel satisfied if I have identified it as a
Controllable and followed through on my actions to influence the outcome.
Uncontrollables are challenges or problems that I do not control. I cannot ultimately control the outcome. Uncontrollables might include a tender decision, a new competitor entering the market, your landlord not renewing your lease, a storm shutting down the airport and cancelling your flight or government legislation detrimentally impacting your industry.
There are a myriad of Uncontrollables that you just can’t influence. They are simply challenges that are externally determined.
Why do I feel it so beneficial to define whether a challenge or problem is a Controllable or Uncontrollable?
It immediately gives me permission to be proactive or passive.
If the challenge is a Controllable. My mind turns to taking direct and prompt action. I have something to do to influence the outcome.
If the challenge is an Uncontrollable, while still invested in the outcome, I adopt a more passive stance and simply monitor the outcome in the background.
From a capacity perspective, my inside-game is optimized by only focusing on Controllables and eliminating (or at least significantly reducing) mental capacity allocated to Uncontrollables.
The benefits to this are many.
In focusing on Controllables, I am allocating my scarce resources to challenges I can influence. This leads to more winning outcomes on the path to success. My mental wellbeing is also positively influenced in having constructive actions to execute, while eliminating or reducing time and mental energy on agonizing over Uncontrollables upon which I can’t influence.
If I do everything I commit to in influencing a Controllable, I can be satisfied with the outcome.
With Uncontrollables, it is not that I surrender interest in the outcome. I am still passionate about the result. It’s about consciously recognizing that I cannot affect the outcome of Uncontrollable and not putting pressure on myself to accept accountability for the outcome.
Control the Controllables in your life and hope the Uncontrollables fall your way.
To start creating sustainable success in your business and life, download a copy of my eBook 'The Success Algorithm' which details my process to work less and earn more. You can get a free copy on the Giveaways page of my website. Plus some bonus videos from my Fourth Moon video series to reach your goals sooner!
All the best,
Darren K Bourke