One Thing I See a Lot: Worrying About Stuff That Doesn’t Matter
One thing I see a lot out there is people worrying about stuff that doesn’t matter.
It’s very common to see advisers (and plenty of others) getting worked up about what some minor functionary in a distant land is doing, or what some celebrity is saying about this or that. It’s all noise designed to keep us distracted and mostly angry. The media knows angry and scared people are more likely to keep listening. Social media works exactly the same way — the algorithm feeds you more of what keeps you hooked, and negativity does that better than positivity.
So how do we cut through all the crap and focus on what we should actually be doing — like building our businesses?
This is just one part of a series of key things I’ll be covering in coming articles.
Firstly, get off or seriously reduce your exposure to the media. I don’t read or watch the news, and yet somehow the important stuff still gets through to me anyway. Some people I know ask Grok or another AI to give them a neutral daily summary, but I don’t even bother with that. Do the same with social media — cull the accounts that just pump out negative stuff and focus on what’s useful or good.
That’s the easier part. Now for the harder bit: changing how we think.
We need to shrink the areas we spend mental energy on.
Stephen R. Covey explains this brilliantly in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People with his three circles:
Circle of Concern: All the things you care about or worry about (global events, other people’s behaviour, the economy, the weather, politics, etc.).
Circle of Influence: The smaller slice where you can actually make a difference through your actions, choices, or indirect impact.
Circle of Control: The smallest circle — the things you have direct personal control over, like your own attitudes, responses, habits, and daily decisions.
Circles of Concern, Influence and Control - Credit to Learning Loop.
Too many people today have a massive Circle of Concern, blown up by 24-hour news and social media. The result? Constant stress and anxiety, because you can’t do anything about most of it.
The key is to deliberately shrink your Circle of Concern so it’s barely bigger than your Circle of Influence. You do this by ignoring — and simply not engaging with — the things you cannot influence.
This doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy things outside your control. For example, I’m a keen UFC fan, so the result of a title fight sits in my Circle of Concern. But I have zero influence or control over it. I watch the fight, then I move on. There’s nothing sadder than a grown adult staying angry for days over a sports result.
Stoicism helps a lot here. In my family, I’m teaching the kids to simply say “oh well” when something outside our control or influence goes against us.
By reducing your Circle of Concern, you free up way more energy to focus on what you can influence and control. That’s where real productivity and progress come from.
Have a look at your own life right now. How big is your Circle of Concern? And what are you actively doing to shrink it?
What changes I made (and why), while keeping your exact v
