Control controllables to really change performance. Sometimes we think we are in control of everything but in reality, we only have control over some of what goes on in our lives. Sometimes we have full control. Every so often, we have partial control and occasionally no control.

This concept is important to understand for sport, business, music, and life. Why? We can decide how to best act and respond to situations, as well as, learn to let go of those situations where we don’t have any control.

Control

When I talk of control, I am not referring to ‘I need to control and be in control of everything and everyone’. I am actually (kind of) talking about the opposite. I am talking about taking the appropriate responsibility – how do you act on or respond to situations that are under your regulation; nothing more and nothing less.

You can create a plan that is yours for taking control and letting go of those things that are uncontrollable.

Full control

Having full control means, it’s yours and you have full responsibility to decide what to do with it. Here are some examples:

• In sports, you have full control over your sportsmanship.
• In business, you have full control over how you treat your employees or colleagues.
• In music, you have full control over how you accept critiques.
• In life, you have control over how nice you are to others.

Of course, other things may get in the way so that you aren’t 100% every single day, but you still have 100% control over how you act and respond.

• Your opponent cheats so you may not be feeling so sportsman like.
• You had a disagreement with your boss and are taking it out on others.
• You practiced more than ever for your debut concert making it hard to accept critiques.
• You lost your job and have your last few dollars in the bank so don’t feel like being nice to others.

However, you still have 100% control over your response to what is happening around you and to control your controllables.

Here is a good list of controllables by Juan Pablo Favero, Head Women’s Soccer Coach at Oakland University.

Partial control

Rarely do we think about having partial control. That’s partly due to the perfectionistic society we live in – it’s usually all or nothing. The fact is, we do have partial control over some things. Here are some examples:

• In sports, you only have partial control over how an opponent reacts and responds to a play, hit, move, or shot. You set it up based on what you’ve learned and your experience but don’t have control over what your opponent does with it.
• In business, you only have partial control over a project. When you are working with others, you can do your part and help support the others working with you, but you don’t have control over their piece.
• In music, you can play your heart out but can’t control how everyone reacts to what you play, or how others play.
• In life, you can kindly hold the door for someone but that doesn’t mean they will thank you. 😊

The great thing about partial control is that it really defines thoughts and actions pretty clearly. It sets you up to focus on your part in the situation and let go of everyone else’s part. When you can think about situations from this perspective it allows you to do what you do best and not get caught up with what others are or are not doing.

No control

There are so many things that are out of our control – the wind, others’ work values, the audience, how other people treat you – but still, we get so wrapped up in things that are out of our control we set ourselves up for failure.

When we focus on things that are out of our control, it takes the focus off what we should be doing. We could be using that energy on the controllables – our skills, our part, relaxing, or doing something else.

Having no control is the most difficult, because then what do you do? Nothing? Yes! You realize you don’t have control and learn to let go of actions and reactions. There’s nothing for you TO DO! Why waste energy when that energy could go into something you have full or partial control over?

Learn to distinguish between them

1. When you go into situations, get in the habit of asking yourself – do I have full, partial, or no control? If you have full or partial, develop a plan of action. If you have no control, let it go.
2. In sport, business, music and life, point out the uncontrollables. This is an exercise I work on with clients and it’s had amazing results.
   a. Just before competition, athletes will point out those things that are out of their control. It reminds them what not to worry about.
   b. Walking into work, managers will look at their schedule and distinguish what they are responsible for. It frees up time and energy to get other work done.
   c. Before a concert, musicians learn to let go of the audience and other musicians. It allows them to focus on their music and their skills.
   d. In life, clients learn to do what they do, be themselves and not have expectations of others. It helps them to let go of the external stuff and focus on who they want to be.

One of my Olympic clients was getting so tangled up in the uncontrollables – things that were going on with managers, coaches, and other teammates. It was taking up so much energy on/off the field that she was struggling to sleep, eat, practice, or compete. She was a mess worrying about so many things she couldn’t do anything about. We were able to talk about and define her controllables and uncontrollables and work on her being able to let go of the things that were outside of her control. So she could then focus on sleeping, eating, practicing, and competing at the level she wanted to.

Control controllables

Learning to see the difference in what you control and what you don’t can take time. We tend to take on too much when we are competitive, or when we are just focused on the end result. You have to separate out what is out of your control to free up space to focus on what is in your control to do your best.

You can learn to let go when you realize and admit what is just truly yours and what you can truly control. And, you need to develop plans for things that are partially and fully in your control, so you focus on YOUR controllables.