Master your Zorro Circle

In the legend of Zorro young, passionate and undisciplined Alejandro wants to fight villains and right the injustices in the world, yet he wants to do it all at once and fails spectacularly. After many heroic attempts and many failures he feels utterly disillusioned and powerless. This is when the aging sword master Don Diego finds him and recognizes his potential. To begin Alejandro’s training, Don Diego draws a circle in the dirt and allows him to fight only within that circle. Only after Alejandro masters control of this circle, he is allowed to expand it a bit and attempt to conquer bigger and bigger challenges. Before long he is swinging on chandeliers and winning all sorts of sword fights. But this would never be possible if he hadn’t learned how to master that small original circle.

The moral of the story is that to achieve anything in life we need to focus our efforts on small manageable goals which, once accomplished, give as a sense of control and fuel our desire to continue. “By first limiting the scope of our efforts, then watching those efforts have an intended effect, we accumulate the resources, knowledge, and confidence to expand the circle, gradually conquering larger and larger area.” (Shawn Achor The Happiness Advantage) This week let’s focus on identifying and mastering your Zorro Circle.

HOW-TO: Identify an area of your life were you are struggling or feel overwhelmed right now. Is it some aspect of your work, your relationships, your health? Draw a small circle and write the problem in the middle of it. Then draw a bigger circle around it – this is your circle of control (the Zorro Circle) What do you have control over in this situation? Write those things down within the circle. What don’t you have control over? Write those things down outside of the circle. Then look at it and reflect on how you can improve the things that are in your control – how can you master your Zorro Circle? What steps can you take?

Here is a simple example of my Zorro Circle. Please make your own and let us know how it went!