Why “Focus on What You Can Control” Is Only Half the Advice

Do you ever act fast and call it decisive, only to find out later you were missing half the picture? Or maybe you can see exactly what's going wrong, but you're not the one who gets to change it?

This episode explores why "focus on what you can control" is only half the story. Acting with agency but no awareness can set you up for exactly the mess you were trying to avoid. This episode walks through a simple two-by-two model, scrambling, sideline, stuck and solid, so you can spot which one you're operating from right now, and what it takes to move towards solid, where agency and awareness work together.

You'll walk away with:

• Why "focus on what you can control" only tells half the story
• A simple model for spotting whether you're scrambling, sidelined, stuck or solid
• Three practical shifts for each state, to help you move towards solid
• Why guarding your energy matters as much as guarding your judgement
• The ski-field story about the time Digby got tracked down on a chairlift, and what it taught him about hoarding agency

Timestamps:

(00:00) Why focus on control is only half the story

(02:26) What agency without awareness costs you

(04:34) What awareness without agency costs you

(06:56) Introducing the agency and awareness model

(09:16) Three shifts to move out of scrambling

(11:18) Three shifts to move out of sideline and stuck

(13:35) Staying solid, and where Digby gets caught out

(15:32) An invitation to explore this with other leaders

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