TechWorkRamblings

by Mike Kalvas

202109121518 Circle of control

A metaphorical circle posited by Stephen Covey in his book 202106221713 Seven habits of highly effective people.1

This metaphorical circle encompasses all the things in our lives that we have direct power to exert control over. We should focus most of our efforts in this circle because our effort is directly related to what happens. This is a smaller circle than either the 202109121516 Circle of influence or 202109121517 Circle of concern and is a strict subset of those two because anything we can control, we could also have influence over and concerns for.

People struggling with achieving 202109121536 Maturity of independence have yet to master their circle of control. They can achieve mastery here by building the habits 202106241529 Be proactive, 202106221744 Begin with the end in mind, and putting 202106241528 First things first.


  1. Covey, S. R. (2004). The 7 habits of highly effective people: Restoring the character ethic (Rev. ed.). Free Press.