Stand on a beach in the heart of autumn and you become aware of how much you don’t control. The tide moves in and out, twice a day. Nothing you can do affects it. The season is swinging back from summer toward winter, and you can’t do anything about that either.

Since you can’t control the tides and the seasons, you have to adapt to them. We know that’s true. Most of the world is beyond our control. But we seem to forget that lesson when we cross the threshold to work.

If you’re a boss, it’s easy to succumb to the idea that you’re in control. So, just for a moment, think about what you don’t control.

You don’t control the economy or the weather. They can affect you and you have to adapt.

You don’t control your boss or pretty much anything above you on the org chart. What happens there can affect you and you have to adapt.

You don’t control the other people on your team or your customers, internal or external. You can influence them, but they choose what they will do and you have to adapt.

Boss’s Bottom Line

All you control is your behavior, what you say and what you do. But that’s enough.

What do you think? How much do you control? How do you deal with that?