Are You Working within Your Circle of Influence?

What is Your Circle of Influence?

Ask yourself: “Where do I have influence?”

Also ask: “What kind of influence do I have?”

Before addressing the people and places to which you believe you have influence, check in with yourself. Is this within your Circle of Concern, or does it actually fall within your Circle of Influence? You don’t have influence simply because you believe you have, your influence is perceived by your audience.

You must accurately assess the subjects in which you can effectively exhibit some form of mastery and expertise. Your mastery consisting of studied knowledge and experiential knowledge. This will be considered most influential. If you don’t have mastery in the subject, you can still be concerned and still discuss the topic. There’s just a different way to go about it if you don’t have the influence yet.

Noticing the Habits of Highly Effective People

Many moons ago I came across Stephen Covey’s book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” The book had a profound effect on how I looked at having influence in the world around me. It was such a perspective shift that my first 3 attempts at reading the book, I couldn’t get past the first chapter regarding Proactivity. I was like, why even move on to the 6 remaining highly effective habits, if I can’t succeed at the first habit of Proactivity.

I was captivated by ideas shared about proactivity and true influence. Without a doubt I believed, every responsible adult needed to understand the underpinnings of the differences between acting proactively and reactively. I would give this book as a gift to friends and clients when I became a health coach. To this day, basic tenets of the book are as needed as before, especially with the built-in design for reactivity on social media platforms.

In addition to online behavior being more reactive, it has also broadened people’s Circle of Concern. So much so, that people are more overwhelmed and anxious by the increasing number of concerns. Making it much easier to loose sight of where one has influence to exact positive change.

Assessing Your Ability for Proactive Focus

Some people believe that the concerns discussed within their social media network is within their Circle of Influence. This is not necessarily true. Social media is a loose network, and is largely reactive. People think that sharing and disseminating information has influence, but it doesn’t. With the exponentially increasing amounts of information being shared online over the past decade, simply voicing concerns doesn’t hold much weight in having influence and facilitating change.

Fortunately, our online connections do allow opportunities for meaningful engagement. When meaningful engagement occurs with those who have some mastery of the topic of concern, there’s more likelihood of actual influence. Which come back around to the initial question: “Where do I have influence?”

With regard to your broader concerns, ask: “Am I approaching them reactively or proactively?” You can also ask if you’re engaging with someone on the topic who may have more mastery or influence than you. You can ask them how they perceive others to have more influence. You can ask how you can support those who have greater influence for the concern.

As the model suggests, when you have a proactive focus using positive energy you will expand your Circle of Influence. But first your must affirm that is your goal. And you are wiling to take the effective approach to make that happen.