The Circle of Concern is a concept popularized by Stephen R. Covey in his groundbreaking self-help book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” This powerful concept is a tool for personal and professional development, helping individuals become more proactive, focused, and effective in their lives.
Stephen R. Covey, an influential author, educator, and leadership expert, introduced the Circle of Concern as part of his holistic approach to personal and interpersonal effectiveness. His book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” published in 1989, has become a timeless classic, offering insights and strategies for achieving both personal and professional success.
The Circle of Concern is a visual representation of the various factors, issues, and aspects of our lives that demand our attention and energy. Covey used this concept to illustrate the critical difference between proactive individuals, who focus on what they can control, and reactive individuals, who expend their energy on things beyond their control.
The Core Principles of the Circle of Concern
The Circle of Concern is grounded in several core principles that serve as its foundation:
Proactivity: Covey emphasizes that individuals have the power to choose their responses to the events and circumstances in their lives. Being proactive means taking control of one’s actions, thoughts, and emotions rather than reacting passively.
Focus on Influence: The concept encourages individuals to concentrate their efforts on areas where they can have a significant impact and influence. It highlights the importance of recognizing the limits of control and concentrating on what matters most.
Reducing Stress: By distinguishing between the Circle of Concern and the Circle of Influence, individuals can reduce stress and anxiety caused by fixating on matters beyond their control. This separation promotes a sense of empowerment and calm.
Effective Time Management: The Circle of Concern serves as a guide for effective time management. It suggests that allocating time and energy to the Circle of Influence leads to better outcomes and productivity.
Understanding the Two Circles: Concern and Influence
The Circle of Concern comprises all the things that individuals care about or have an interest in. It encompasses a wide range of issues, including global events, societal problems, personal health, finances, family matters, and work-related concerns. The Circle of Concern is expansive and inclusive by nature, as it encompasses everything that captures our attention and sparks our interest.
However, within the Circle of Concern, there exists a smaller, more focused circle called the Circle of Influence. This circle represents the subset of concerns that individuals can directly impact through their actions, decisions, and behaviors. It consists of issues where individuals have control or can influence the outcome.
The key distinction between the two circles lies in individuals’ response to the issues within them. Proactive individuals primarily invest their time and energy in the Circle of Influence, recognizing that this is where they can make a meaningful difference. On the other hand, reactive individuals tend to dwell in their Circle of Concern, becoming preoccupied with matters beyond their control, which can lead to stress, frustration, and a sense of powerlessness.
Practical Applications of the Circle of Concern
The Circle of Concern has practical applications in various aspects of life, including personal development, leadership, time management, and decision-making:
1. Personal Development
The Circle of Concern encourages individuals to take ownership of their lives by focusing on areas they can control. This approach fosters personal growth, self-improvement, and resilience.
2. Leadership
Effective leaders often operate within their Circle of Influence. They concentrate their efforts on aspects of a situation that they can impact, making them more influential and inspiring to their teams.
3. Time Management
By prioritizing issues within the Circle of Influence, individuals can better allocate their time and energy, leading to increased productivity and a sense of accomplishment.
4. Decision-Making
When faced with a decision, considering whether it falls within the Circle of Influence or the Circle of Concern can help individuals make choices that align with their values and goals.
5. Stress Reduction
Recognizing the distinction between the two circles can significantly reduce stress. Proactive individuals focus on what they can control, minimizing the emotional toll of uncontrollable issues.
The Role of Proactivity
At the heart of the Circle of Concern lies the concept of proactivity. Proactivity involves taking initiative, accepting responsibility for one’s choices, and consciously directing one’s actions. Proactive individuals are not passive victims of circumstances; instead, they are architects of their lives.
Stephen R. Covey suggests that proactivity is the foundation for achieving personal and professional effectiveness. It empowers individuals to respond to challenges with a positive attitude, take calculated risks, and adapt to change. Proactive individuals are more likely to overcome obstacles, build healthy relationships, and pursue their goals with determination.
Expanding the Circle of Influence
While the Circle of Influence represents the areas where individuals have direct control or influence, Covey encourages people to expand their Circle of Influence over time. This expansion is achieved through personal development, skill-building, and developing strong interpersonal relationships. By continually expanding their Circle of Influence, individuals can take on more significant challenges and make a broader impact in various aspects of their lives.
Criticisms and Controversies
Despite its widespread popularity and applicability, the Circle of Concern has faced some criticisms and controversies:
Simplicity: Some critics argue that the model oversimplifies the complexities of life by dividing issues into just two circles. Life’s challenges are often more nuanced, and the boundaries between control and influence can be blurry.
Individual Differences: The effectiveness of applying the Circle of Concern may vary among individuals. Some may find it easier to distinguish between the two circles, while others may struggle with implementation.
Cultural Variations: The model may not fully account for cultural variations in perceptions of control and influence. In some cultures, individuals may have different views on what they can or cannot control.
Conclusion
The Circle of Concern is a valuable concept that promotes personal empowerment, proactivity, and effective decision-making. By recognizing the difference between the Circle of Concern and the Circle of Influence, individuals can focus their efforts where they matter most, reduce stress, and increase their effectiveness in achieving their goals. It serves as a guiding principle for anyone seeking personal and professional growth, emphasizing that the path to a more empowered and fulfilled life begins with our choices and the areas where we invest our time and energy.
Summary of the Circle of Concern:
Definition: The Circle of Concern, popularized by Stephen R. Covey, is a concept illustrating the distinction between issues individuals can control (Circle of Influence) and those they cannot (Circle of Concern).
Origins: Covey introduced the concept in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” to emphasize personal responsibility, proactivity, and effective time management.
Core Principles:
Proactivity: Individuals have the power to choose their responses to events.
Focus on Influence: Concentrate efforts on areas where one can have a significant impact.
Stress Reduction: Distinguishing between Concern and Influence reduces stress and promotes empowerment.
Effective Time Management: Prioritizing the Circle of Influence leads to better productivity.
Concern and Influence:
Circle of Concern: Encompasses all issues individuals care about or have an interest in.
Circle of Influence: Subset of concerns where individuals can directly impact outcomes.
Practical Applications:
Personal development: Focusing on controllable aspects fosters growth and resilience.
Leadership: Effective leaders concentrate efforts where they can influence outcomes.
Time management: Prioritizing Influence leads to increased productivity.
Decision-making: Helps align choices with values and goals.
Stress reduction: Minimizes emotional toll by focusing on what can be controlled.
Role of Proactivity:
Proactivity empowers individuals to respond positively to challenges and take control of their lives.
Expanding Influence:
Encourages continual personal development to expand the Circle of Influence over time.
Criticisms:
Oversimplification: Critics argue the model oversimplifies life’s complexities.
Individual differences: Effectiveness may vary among individuals.
Cultural variations: May not fully account for cultural differences in perceptions of control.
Conclusion:
The Circle of Concern is a valuable tool for personal empowerment, effective decision-making, and achieving goals by focusing on areas of influence. It emphasizes the importance of proactive choices and investment of time and energy in controllable aspects of life.
Convergent thinking occurs when the solution to a problem can be found by applying established rules and logical reasoning. Whereas divergent thinking is an unstructured problem-solving method where participants are encouraged to develop many innovative ideas or solutions to a given problem. Where convergent thinking might work for larger, mature organizations where divergent thinking is more suited for startups and innovative companies.
The concept of cognitive biases was introduced and popularized by the work of Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman in 1972. Biases are seen as systematic errors and flaws that make humans deviate from the standards of rationality, thus making us inept at making good decisions under uncertainty.
Second-order thinking is a means of assessing the implications of our decisions by considering future consequences. Second-order thinking is a mental model that considers all future possibilities. It encourages individuals to think outside of the box so that they can prepare for every and eventuality. It also discourages the tendency for individuals to default to the most obvious choice.
Lateral thinking is a business strategy that involves approaching a problem from a different direction. The strategy attempts to remove traditionally formulaic and routine approaches to problem-solving by advocating creative thinking, therefore finding unconventional ways to solve a known problem. This sort of non-linear approach to problem-solving, can at times, create a big impact.
Bounded rationality is a concept attributed to Herbert Simon, an economist and political scientist interested in decision-making and how we make decisions in the real world. In fact, he believed that rather than optimizing (which was the mainstream view in the past decades) humans follow what he called satisficing.
The Dunning-Kruger effect describes a cognitive bias where people with low ability in a task overestimate their ability to perform that task well. Consumers or businesses that do not possess the requisite knowledge make bad decisions. What’s more, knowledge gaps prevent the person or business from seeing their mistakes.
Occam’s Razor states that one should not increase (beyond reason) the number of entities required to explain anything. All things being equal, the simplest solution is often the best one. The principle is attributed to 14th-century English theologian William of Ockham.
The Lindy Effect is a theory about the ageing of non-perishable things, like technology or ideas. Popularized by author Nicholas Nassim Taleb, the Lindy Effect states that non-perishable things like technology age – linearly – in reverse. Therefore, the older an idea or a technology, the same will be its life expectancy.
Antifragility was first coined as a term by author, and options trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Antifragility is a characteristic of systems that thrive as a result of stressors, volatility, and randomness. Therefore, Antifragile is the opposite of fragile. Where a fragile thing breaks up to volatility; a robust thing resists volatility. An antifragile thing gets stronger from volatility (provided the level of stressors and randomness doesn’t pass a certain threshold).
Systems thinking is a holistic means of investigating the factors and interactions that could contribute to a potential outcome. It is about thinking non-linearly, and understanding the second-order consequences of actions and input into the system.
Vertical thinking, on the other hand, is a problem-solving approach that favors a selective, analytical, structured, and sequential mindset. The focus of vertical thinking is to arrive at a reasoned, defined solution.
Maslow’s Hammer, otherwise known as the law of the instrument or the Einstellung effect, is a cognitive bias causing an over-reliance on a familiar tool. This can be expressed as the tendency to overuse a known tool (perhaps a hammer) to solve issues that might require a different tool. This problem is persistent in the business world where perhaps known tools or frameworks might be used in the wrong context (like business plans used as planning tools instead of only investors’ pitches).
The Peter Principle was first described by Canadian sociologist Lawrence J. Peter in his 1969 book The Peter Principle. The Peter Principle states that people are continually promoted within an organization until they reach their level of incompetence.
The straw man fallacy describes an argument that misrepresents an opponent’s stance to make rebuttal more convenient. The straw man fallacy is a type of informal logical fallacy, defined as a flaw in the structure of an argument that renders it invalid.
The Streisand Effect is a paradoxical phenomenon where the act of suppressing information to reduce visibility causes it to become more visible. In 2003, Streisand attempted to suppress aerial photographs of her Californian home by suing photographer Kenneth Adelman for an invasion of privacy. Adelman, who Streisand assumed was paparazzi, was instead taking photographs to document and study coastal erosion. In her quest for more privacy, Streisand’s efforts had the opposite effect.
As highlighted by German psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer in the paper “Heuristic Decision Making,” the term heuristic is of Greek origin, meaning “serving to find out or discover.” More precisely, a heuristic is a fast and accurate way to make decisions in the real world, which is driven by uncertainty.
The recognition heuristic is a psychological model of judgment and decision making. It is part of a suite of simple and economical heuristics proposed by psychologists Daniel Goldstein and Gerd Gigerenzer. The recognition heuristic argues that inferences are made about an object based on whether it is recognized or not.
The representativeness heuristic was first described by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. The representativeness heuristic judges the probability of an event according to the degree to which that event resembles a broader class. When queried, most will choose the first option because the description of John matches the stereotype we may hold for an archaeologist.
The take-the-best heuristic is a decision-making shortcut that helps an individual choose between several alternatives. The take-the-best (TTB) heuristic decides between two or more alternatives based on a single good attribute, otherwise known as a cue. In the process, less desirable attributes are ignored.
The bundling bias is a cognitive bias in e-commerce where a consumer tends not to use all of the products bought as a group, or bundle. Bundling occurs when individual products or services are sold together as a bundle. Common examples are tickets and experiences. The bundling bias dictates that consumers are less likely to use each item in the bundle. This means that the value of the bundle and indeed the value of each item in the bundle is decreased.
The Barnum Effect is a cognitive bias where individuals believe that generic information – which applies to most people – is specifically tailored for themselves.
First-principles thinking – sometimes called reasoning from first principles – is used to reverse-engineer complex problems and encourage creativity. It involves breaking down problems into basic elements and reassembling them from the ground up. Elon Musk is among the strongest proponents of this way of thinking.
The ladder of inference is a conscious or subconscious thinking process where an individual moves from a fact to a decision or action. The ladder of inference was created by academic Chris Argyris to illustrate how people form and then use mental models to make decisions.
Goodhart’s Law is named after British monetary policy theorist and economist Charles Goodhart. Speaking at a conference in Sydney in 1975, Goodhart said that “any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes.” Goodhart’s Law states that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.
The Six Thinking Hats model was created by psychologist Edward de Bono in 1986, who noted that personality type was a key driver of how people approached problem-solving. For example, optimists view situations differently from pessimists. Analytical individuals may generate ideas that a more emotional person would not, and vice versa.
The Mandela effect is a phenomenon where a large group of people remembers an event differently from how it occurred. The Mandela effect was first described in relation to Fiona Broome, who believed that former South African President Nelson Mandela died in prison during the 1980s. While Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and died 23 years later, Broome remembered news coverage of his death in prison and even a speech from his widow. Of course, neither event occurred in reality. But Broome was later to discover that she was not the only one with the same recollection of events.
The bandwagon effect tells us that the more a belief or idea has been adopted by more people within a group, the more the individual adoption of that idea might increase within the same group. This is the psychological effect that leads to herd mentality. What in marketing can be associated with social proof.
Moore’s law states that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles approximately every two years. This observation was made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965 and it become a guiding principle for the semiconductor industry and has had far-reaching implications for technology as a whole.
Disruptive innovation as a term was first described by Clayton M. Christensen, an American academic and business consultant whom The Economist called “the most influential management thinker of his time.” Disruptive innovation describes the process by which a product or service takes hold at the bottom of a market and eventually displaces established competitors, products, firms, or alliances.
Value migration was first described by author Adrian Slywotzky in his 1996 book Value Migration – How to Think Several Moves Ahead of the Competition. Value migration is the transferal of value-creating forces from outdated business models to something better able to satisfy consumer demands.
The bye-now effect describes the tendency for consumers to think of the word “buy” when they read the word “bye”. In a study that tracked diners at a name-your-own-price restaurant, each diner was asked to read one of two phrases before ordering their meal. The first phrase, “so long”, resulted in diners paying an average of $32 per meal. But when diners recited the phrase “bye bye” before ordering, the average price per meal rose to $45.
Groupthink occurs when well-intentioned individuals make non-optimal or irrational decisions based on a belief that dissent is impossible or on a motivation to conform. Groupthink occurs when members of a group reach a consensus without critical reasoning or evaluation of the alternatives and their consequences.
A stereotype is a fixed and over-generalized belief about a particular group or class of people. These beliefs are based on the false assumption that certain characteristics are common to every individual residing in that group. Many stereotypes have a long and sometimes controversial history and are a direct consequence of various political, social, or economic events. Stereotyping is the process of making assumptions about a person or group of people based on various attributes, including gender, race, religion, or physical traits.
Murphy’s Law states that if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong. Murphy’s Law was named after aerospace engineer Edward A. Murphy. During his time working at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949, Murphy cursed a technician who had improperly wired an electrical component and said, “If there is any way to do it wrong, he’ll find it.”
The law of unintended consequences was first mentioned by British philosopher John Locke when writing to parliament about the unintended effects of interest rate rises. However, it was popularized in 1936 by American sociologist Robert K. Merton who looked at unexpected, unanticipated, and unintended consequences and their impact on society.
Fundamental attribution error is a bias people display when judging the behavior of others. The tendency is to over-emphasize personal characteristics and under-emphasize environmental and situational factors.
Outcome bias describes a tendency to evaluate a decision based on its outcome and not on the process by which the decision was reached. In other words, the quality of a decision is only determined once the outcome is known. Outcome bias occurs when a decision is based on the outcome of previous events without regard for how those events developed.
Hindsight bias is the tendency for people to perceive past events as more predictable than they actually were. The result of a presidential election, for example, seems more obvious when the winner is announced. The same can also be said for the avid sports fan who predicted the correct outcome of a match regardless of whether their team won or lost. Hindsight bias, therefore, is the tendency for an individual to convince themselves that they accurately predicted an event before it happened.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
