Circles of Control
These three circles can help you and your employees reduce climate anxiety and make big sustainability gains at the same time.
How?
By thinking less about climate change.
Sounds counterintuitive, but it actually makes a lot of sense.
In an age of information overload, we are constantly bombarded with climate problems and disasters that are infinitely bigger than ourselves, making our efforts to bike to work and recycle our jam jars seem comparatively insignificant. Our poor hunter-gatherer brains are simply not evolved to deal with the sheer amount and scale of the problems that we are exposed to every day on the news and on social media.
This often leads to climate anxiety, hopelessness, and burnout.
A little bit of climate anxiety is not necessarily a bad thing. It can motivate us to take action, but too much anxiety can push us into paralysis. And we all know someone who avoids climate action because “what’s the point of little old me doing anything if all these mega-corporations and governments don’t act.”
But our actions do matter, and it’s not just our personal lifestyle changes that can have an impact. We have numerous spheres of influence, from our friends and family to our local community and campaigns, as well as the organisations that we work for. So how can we reduce this climate-anxiety paralysis and increase people’s confidence to act?
According to the psychological model, Circles of Control, there are three different places we can put our energy and attention. When we focus on things over which we have no personal control (such as global warming figures and climate disasters), we are in the Circle of Concern. Spending too much time and energy in the Circle of Concern this leads to an increase in anxiety, and a decrease in confidence and productivity. We only have a limited amount of time and mental energy, so when we spend it worrying about things we cannot control, we have less left over to work on the things we can control.
When we focus on things within our control (i.e., our own actions), we are in the Circle of Control. We can also spend time in the middle ground; the Circle of Influence, which includes speaking to friends and family, and joining forces with groups and initiatives bigger than ourselves. When we spend more time in the Circles of Control and Influence, we can be more confident, more productive, more effective, and we have more peace of mind and better wellbeing.
Here’s how you and your employees can use the Circles of Control:
Ask them to identify their Circle of Concern: What sort of things are they worrying about which they have no control over? How much time do they spend on this? What triggers them to worry about these things? What effect is it having on their confidence, mood, and behaviour?
Brainstorm ideas to expand their Circles of Control and Influence: What do they personally have control or influence over? What could they achieve in the workplace? Who could they join forces with? Encourage them to start by thinking of actions that are small and achievable. As their confidence grows, try adding in bigger actions.
Have a “refocus” strategy: Encourage them to notice when they are spending too much time in their Circle of Concern, and to refocus their attention either into their Circle of Control, or back into the present moment.
To summarise:
It is inefficient and overwhelming to focus too much on things over which we have no control, especially when it comes to climate change.
So help your employees to focus on what they can control; they will be happier, more confident, and more productive in their sustainability journey.