By HAYIM MIZRACHI – President | Principal | Broker – MDL Group (3 min read)
Friday, March 13, 2020 I was scheduled to have breakfast with Noa Jensch. Besides catching up, we were going to rap about the goings on in the community.
Noa is the National Senior Director of Strategy & Las Vegas for the IAC. We didn’t talk much about the IAC or the community as much as the developments surrounding COVID-19. During our conversation Noa shared wisdom from her previous life as a leadership and management trainer for Marriott International. It was so good I re-shared the wisdom with everyone at MDL Group.
I’d like to share them with you too. And please feel free to share with anyone else that you think would benefit from this message. Before jumping in, let me say that these are challenging and unprecedented times. If there is anything that I can do to assist you or your organization please do not hesitate to call on me.
Here goes…
In the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen Covey talks about the concepts of Circle of Concern and Circle of Influence.
The Circle of Concern is the area that we have no control over.
I cannot control the Corona Virus. I cannot control the NHL suspending Golden Knights games. If I cannot control these things, any focus I give them creates negative energy in my life. It creates stress, anxiety and fear.
The Circle of Influence is the area that we have control over.
I can influence my response to what is happening around me. I can influence what I do with the time I gained by not going to the canceled gala. When I focus on what I can influence it creates happiness, reduces stress and initiates change.
The main thing that happens between the first approach (focusing on the Circle of Concern) and the second approach (focusing on the Circle of Influence) is the Circle of Influence grows bigger and the Circle of Concern becomes smaller.
- Take out a sheet of paper.
- Draw a line in the middle.
- On the left list out everything that concerns you and is out of your control.
- On the right list out what you can influence.
- When you feel anxious or afraid about something write it down on the left.
- Ask yourself, can I control this?
- Then ask how can I influence this or what can I influence?
- Keep your focus on the right side of the page.
- Use your energy to grow the Circle of Influence.
We are no strangers to adversity. In the days after 9/11, Las Vegas was hit as hard as anywhere else in the world. Hotels were empty. Businesses suffered. It persisted for weeks and weeks. All of a sudden things changed. America healed. People returned to what they felt was normal.
These are the early days of a world wide reaction to a pandemic. The uncertainty (Circle of Concern) is leading most of the reactions that we are seeing throughout the community. There will be adversity no doubt. But things will change for the better. They always do. In the meantime focus on your Circle of Influence.
All of a sudden, you’ll see, normalcy will be restored.