In his international bestselling book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, author Stephen R. Covey observed that proactive people focus their effort on their circle of influence instead of paying attention to their circle of concern. He further distinguishes between the circle of influence and the circle of concern:

“Another excellent way to become more self-aware regarding our own degree of proactivity is to look at where we focus our time and energy. We each have a wide range of concerns — our health, our children, problems at work, the national debt, nuclear war. We could separate those from things in which we have no particular mental or emotional involvement by creating a “Circle of Concern.