So What CAN You Control?

In the LinkedIn article I just published, I put out a challenge to everyone it reaches to approach the coming year by taking the responsibility to Control What You Can Control! I don’t believe any of us have had a shortage of crap to work through in 2020… To paint a picture of just how important it can be to keep our focus on the things we can control, I shared a story about some amazing results I saw a small group of people achieve by doing that! If you use LinkedIn, or even if you don’t, I believe you’d enjoy reading it for yourself…

With that idea in mind, I’ll issue that same challenge to you! Let’s stop waiting for SOMEONE to do SOMETHING about all the mess we’ve dealt with in 2020 and take 2021 by the horns as we control what WE can control!!!

So what can we control?

For years, I’ve heard over and over that we can only control two things: our attitude and our actions. If you share my Christian faith, I’m guessing you know the one thing that separates us as humans from all other living things; God gave us free will to make our own choices. If you don’t share that belief, give me some latitude here because I think this will still serve you well…

I certainly don’t claim to be a Bible scholar, or a scholar of many other things for that matter, but I have studied human behavior extensively over the last two decades. As I understand the free will that separates us from every other living thing on the planet, it basically means we have the ability to choose how we respond to the world around us where every other living thing on the planet is programmed to follow a set of natural laws without question. (I could make the argument here that a large majority of humans have allowed themselves to be programmed and follow the media without question, but I’ll fight that urge for now…)

So if what I’m suggesting here about free will is correct, it really does boil down to us having control over those two things; our attitude and our actions… That said, having the ability to control something and taking responsibility for that control are two very different things! Far too many people today seem to have their clutch pushed completely to the floor and are drifting through life under the complete control of the conditions and circumstances around them.

When we accepted a leadership role, whether that be in an organization or within our family, we forfeited the opportunity to shirk that responsibility of controlling our attitude and actions! And guess what? That can be incredibly hard! But since, as John Maxwell says, “Everything worthwhile is uphill,” I’m going to assume you’re not willing to settle for being pushed around by the shifting tide that’s fed to us by the media or the poliTICKS and you are willing to take responsibility for controlling what you can control!

Over the next several days, we’re going to dig into some of the most crucial things that I believe we need to maintain complete control over if we’re going to lead in a way the team around us depends on us to lead. I won’t pretend any of them will be easy, but each area we look at really is our choice! 

Until then, I’d like to announce a complimentary webinar series that Cindy and I will be launching in 2021! The first ever lesson in this series has been approved for continuing education credits through the Society for Human Resource Management, the Human Resource Certification Institute, and the National Association of Long Term Care Administrator Boards! You can get all the specifics and register here, and I’d love it if you shared it with anyone you know who would benefit from it!