In/out of control

Jalyn Cai

Jalyn Cai

Jalyn Cai

October 23, 2021

October 23, 2021

October 23, 2021

3 min read

3 min read

3 min read

#Thinking

My mentor asked me a simple question when I was catching up with her: What’s in your control, and what’s not?

I’ve touched on this topic before, while talking about stoicism and what we can control. That was February of this year, which seems both like a short time and a lifetime ago. I had a pretty pithy line to summarize then:

Things happen, and the only thing we can control is how we respond to them.

Well, turns out, in life, things do happen.

With work, what is it that I can control? What is it that I struggle with accepting that I can’t control?

I can’t control:

  • The (types of) clients the team engages with

  • Other people’s actions, reactions, and decisions

  • Whether people would participate in one thing, and not another

  • How others perceive me

What I can:

  • How I react to these things happening

  • How I respond — a slight nuanced difference from the first thing, which is more in the moment

  • How much action I take, or do not take

  • The mindfulness I take towards my actions

📍 Currently in Singapore

©2024 Jalyn Cai

📍 Currently in Singapore

©2024 Jalyn Cai

📍 Currently in Singapore

©2024 Jalyn Cai