B. J. Gallagher shares in the book, The Road to Happiness, her version of Steven Covey’s Circles of Influence. She suggests visualizing a target, which consists of two circles, the smaller inside the larger. Inside the small circle is what you can control, inside the larger circle is what you cannot control but can influence, and outside the target is what you cannot control or influence. What you can control inside the circle is basically you. There is very little else in life that we can control besides ourselves. We may, however, have the ability to influence some people and therefore situations, such as family, friends and coworkers. This is the inside of the larger circle. There is much more, though, outside the circles over which we have no influence or control whatsoever. This includes things such as the weather, decisions made by people we don’t know, losing or being hired for a job.

She stated, “Now, here’s the point: Highly effective people are those who focus all their time and energy on what’s INSIDE these two circles – they focus on what they CAN control and what they CAN influence. They spend NO time or energy on anything OUTSIDE the circles – they don’t waste a moment of precious time on stuff they can’t control or influence. And that, in a nutshell, is how people become highly effective.”

Stay on target by focusing only on what you can control or influence and you will be on your way to living . . . life to the fullest.