Focus On What You Can Control
Last month, I led a team of people for a two week trip to Thailand. We had people from different backgrounds, professions, and ideas that made for a rich experience in culture and in team dynamics. Some had traveled a little while others had never left the United States prior to this adventure. We emerged from the plane in Bangkok and ventured to the weekend Chatachuk market for a little shopping. Some of the team members were a little overwhelmed with the instant shouts and hollers of vendors eagerly promoting their eclectic array of shirts, bowls, fish, paintings, spices, lychee, and shoes. I glanced over to one of our team members and saw the sheer panic in her eyes. Another one of our team members was already being approached by a scam artist while a third was pulling out his wallet for a sea of beggars. They seemed at a loss for what to do when so much was being demanded of them at one time from an endless sea of people.
I pulled a few aside and reassured them with a few words, "You are in control of this situation. The vendors want your time, focus, energy, and money. You have a choice. It is your choice. You can ignore them all and miss out on some great purchases. You can engage in every single person that demands your attention and let them eat you up like buzzards to prey. You can take a moment, look around, and make a decision. You decide who gets your focus. You decide who gets your time and energy. You decide who gets your money. You decide how you will invest in potential rewards."
We took a deep breath and reentered the world of chaos, the distractions and calls for our focus, time, and money still rang loud but this time we had a different perspective. This time we knew that we were in control.
This is much easier said than done. How many times when leading a team does it feel overwhelming with calls for attention? It can be easy to become overwhelmed and deplete all resources on overpriced subpar products. Sometimes it feels as if it is all out of your hands. While you can't entirely control the situation but you do have some control in the situation. There is never a point in life when you don't have a choice.
Focus on what you can control.
Are you in control of your project or is the project in control of you? Do you own your role or does your role own you? Do you own the process or does the process own you? Focus on what you can control and do what you can within your realm of influence.
Often times I work with university students that tell me about their class schedule for the semester and groan. When I was in college I was determined that I paid way too much tuition money to take classes that did not excite me in some way. While there were some courses that were musts in my course of study, I found that there was a larger level of latitude than what is typically assumed.
My sophomore year I walked into United States History 101 and began to hear the tales of Christopher Columbus. I walked out of the class with the feeling that I should have learned about Columbus before I ever entered university. I knew that there was more of world history that interested me and I knew that I wanted to go to Asia post-graduation. I marched to the Humanities department and asked if I could take a different history class and receive the same credit. I liked the professor but I wanted different content.
The next day I walked into a class that prepared me for my next great adventure to India. I took a class on the History of Contemporary Asia in which we learned of all current events. About 65% of my degree I altered with similar variations.
Don't be intimidated, be intentional.
Don't just go with the flow, navigate the tides.
Don't waste your time, energy, money, and focus on a slew of sub par market trinkets; invest wisely.
Don't waste your time, energy, money, and focus on a topic that has already been addressed and completed; go deeper and further.
You can't control everything, but you can control one thing: You.