Let’s face it. Life is more fun when you are passionate about what you are working on! You want to get up in the morning. You are excited to go to work or school. You have a purpose. Therefore you are positive!

But every once in a while, even the most positive person can get a case of the “grumpies.”  So many times we can easily blame it on the weather, the neighbors, the boss, the customers, the spouse, or whatever.  Sometimes I am not sure why I have a case of the blah’s. 

For me, when I am not “feeling it,” or when I am in a down right foul mood it is because I am spending too much time outside of my Circle of Influence.  The Circle of Influence is famously written about in the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  The concept is that Highly Effective people spend time working on only things they can control.  Things outside of their control cannot be influenced so there is no point spending any time or energy on them!

Things like gossip, worries, the weather and other’s behavior are just a few things I simply can’t control.  So why bother?

When I am feeling frustrated with life (as frankly I was for a part of yesterday) it is almost ALWAYS because I am spending my time outside my circle of influence!  So I need to re-focus my efforts onto controlling the things I can control.  When I do that, I become more effective…and I get in a lot better mood too!