Here lies one of the most famous phrases regarding self control.

This has allowed hundreds of thousands of people to regain control over themselves while battling different type of addictions.

Such quote became widely known due to it’s common use in Alcoholics Anonymus.

And this incredibly powerful phrase is based in one basic principle, one core value.

In fact, this core value has been around for thousands of years.

So much so that the Stoics had a phrase for it:

ta eph’hemin, ta ouk eph’hemin

What is up to us/ What is not up to us

This concept has been repeated throughout history.

Actually, famous writer Stephen Covey defines it as the Cirle of influence and the Cirle of concern.

He clames that highly productive people focus their energy on expanding the first one and shrinking the latter one.

Why?

As Ryan Holiday puts it himself:

It’s so much easier to fight something when you aren’t also fighting things you cannot change. That stuff is done.

Why battle to no end while trying to change that which we cannot control?

Why succumb to our human desire to have control over everything when we know it can’t be done.

That being said, what do we actually control?

• Our emotions

• Our judgements

• Our creativity

• Our attitude

• Our perspective

• Our desire

• Our decisions

• Our determination

I like to believe life to be a time and energy game.

Like in Monopoly.

You know that money is the only currency there is for you to win.

Life is something like that.

Everything else can be, in some way, acquired.

But time and energy?

They’re limited. And to win in life, we must efficiently manage both of them.

How we spend both on a daily basis will define our outcome in every other aspect of life.

So why waste ourselves, both time and energy, in things in which we have no control, no influence?

The playing field is within our control, but the rules, those are part of the game, those are sete for life.

So we better make the most of it, and not try to change them.