Control vs. Influence

I encountered an online article (from some years back) written by Debbie Jenkins (nope - I don't actually know who that is) that contained the following.  It hit home and I wanted to share.

That which is beyond your immediate and complete manipulation is not, whether we like it or not, within our control. So what is within our control?

• Our Emotions and Motivation (although not all of us accept this)
• Our Response To Outside Influences (although not all of us accept this either)
• The Direction We Take In Life
• Every Action We Take
• The Way We Communicate
• What We Say and Do and Promise
• What We Choose To Believe or Ignore
• Inanimate Objects & Tools We Use

Everything else that is outside of us (especially other animals/humans) we can only influence. Here are some examples of things you can only influence...

• Whether Someone Likes You
• Whether People Will Buy
• What Other People Find Important
• Whether People Believe You
• Convincing Someone of Something
• Getting Someone to Do Something (even if you're a hypnotist)

Sure, you can exert enough influence that it seems like control. If someone held a gun to your head, they could probably influence you to do a lot of things. But despite that, they couldn't get you to think different things or feel differently about something because they still only have influence.

Finally, there are some things we have no direct control or influence over... such as the weather, space, time, where we start out in life, but there's no benefit dwelling on the things we cannot do - because it's more empowering to focus on what we can do.

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The article was about the concept of under-promise and over-deliver, something that I referred to in my last post.  Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/59584