Control the Controllables
Reduce a crisis to the actions you can take and ignore unavailable levers
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 93%
The host describes a crisis response that Ahmed recognizes: identify the objective, separate the variables you control from those you do not, and direct attention to the available levers. Under severe pressure, the practical choice set can be surprisingly small. Bartlett's payroll crisis reduced to obtaining one client's signature; Ahmed suggests that listing controllable and uncontrollable factors, mentally or on paper, can be calming and focusing. The framework does not claim that worry is irrational or that every crisis is simple. Its mechanism is attentional: anxiety expands around all possible outcomes, while action depends on the limited variables the decision-maker can influence now. Once the next consequential action is complete or the facts change, the list can be rebuilt for the new situation.
Origin
Extracted from The Diary of a CEO. Steven Bartlett describes using this approach in business crises, and Will Ahmed endorses writing down controllable and uncontrollable factors as a focusing exercise.
Core principles
- 01A crisis often leaves fewer meaningful choices than anxiety suggests
- 02Attention is most useful when directed toward available levers
- 03Writing the boundary between control and no control can be calming
- 04The next consequential action matters more than rehearsing every threat
How to run it
- 1
Define the Immediate Objective
State what must happen next in concrete terms. Avoid broad goals that do not guide an immediate decision.
Pro tip Use a verb and an observable result.
- 2
List Available Levers
Write every action or variable you can directly influence. Include communication, sequencing, requests, and your own behavior.
Pro tip Keep direct control separate from things you can merely influence.
- 3
Mark the Uncontrollables
Identify external decisions, past events, and uncertain outcomes that you cannot command. Stop treating them as tasks.
Pro tip Preserve any relevant contingency, then release repeated mental rehearsal.
Watch out Uncontrollable does not mean irrelevant; some risks still require preparation.
- 4
Choose the Consequential Move
Select the available action most likely to advance the immediate objective. Defer lower-impact activity until that move is underway.
Pro tip Ask which single action would make the next decision easier.
- 5
Recalculate
After acting or receiving new information, redefine the objective and control boundary. Repeat until the crisis becomes ordinary operating work.
In the wild
Bartlett recalls needing a client contract signed so a bank would release payroll funds. With little time and few choices, he focused on the one objective he could influence: get the client to sign the paper.
→ A broad cash crisis became a specific action rather than an open-ended worry loop.
Illustrative example: after a service outage, a leader cannot control when a vendor responds. She can pause new traffic, inform customers, preserve evidence, and assign a rollback owner. She acts on those levers and schedules the vendor dependency for review rather than repeatedly checking it.
→ The team spends scarce attention on actions that can change the incident.
Common mistakes
Calling Influence Control
Another person's decision may be influenceable but cannot be treated as guaranteed.
Using Focus to Suppress Emotion
The exercise organizes action; it does not prove that fear or stress should be ignored indefinitely.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for leaders facing urgent, high-stakes situations with a clear near-term objective.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for minimizing legitimate emotions, skipping contingency planning, or pretending systemic risks are personally controllable.
From the transcript
“purely focusing on what I can control”
“are you controlling all the controllables”
“that can be a very calming exercise”
From the episode
Whoop Founder: How I Built A $3.6 BILLION Company & BEAT Apple! Will Ahmed