In describing his first habit, Covey defines proactivity slightly different than most people. Instead of being synonymous with initiative, Covey says that being proactive is more similar to taking responsibility for your own actions. Under this definition, being proactive is highly important because it enables us to take charge of our own lives.

The concept that had the greatest effect on me was circle of concern and circle of influence. It basically says that although there are many problems we may worry about (circle of concern), there is a limited number of problems that we have the power to do something about (circle of influence). If we spend time worrying about things outside our circle of influence, we will waste a lot of time and energy but never see results. Therefore, focusing our efforts on our circle on influence, our time and efforts will have greater results.

This concept is especially important in our relationships with other people. There is an infinite number of things that can cause conflict with other individuals. Many of these things are the result of the actions of others, but others are the result of our own actions. We only have influence on our own actions.

When we have conflicts with others, we could spend our time and efforts in our circle of concern by wishing that the other person would change his/her actions, Or we could focus on our circle of influence by changing our own actions and increasing our influence with that person. Ironically, by changing our own actions to reduce the conflict, we will have more influence with that person.