What is the Most Valuable Asset? What is in Your Control.

You want to become the best version of yourself but have difficulty defining the "best version of yourself."

• You have a few ideas:
• A fit and healthy body
• No money problems
• A good-looking significant other
• Being seen as a brilliant mind
• Women finding you deliciously attractive

While the list looks good, there is a problem with most items -- they sit outside of your circle of influence.

What does that mean? The author William B. Irvine writes, "If we want things that are not up to us, though, we will sometimes fail to get what we want, and when this happens, we will "meet misfortune" and feel "thwarted, miserable, and upset." In particular, Epictetus says, it is foolish for us to want friends and relatives to live forever, since these are things that aren't up to us."

If you want to be the best version of yourself, you must focus on things within your circle of influence.

Irvine continues, "Epictetus suggests, quite sensibly, that we are behaving foolishly if we spend time worrying about things that are not up to us; because they are not up to us, worrying about them is futile. We should instead concern ourselves with things that are up to us, since we can take steps either to bring them about or prevent them from happening."

Focusing your time on things within your control -- in general, will require less time to achieve:

• A fit body
• A healthy body
• A tranquil mind
• How you react to a situation
• Being the best father, you can be
• Being the best husband, you can be
• Following your intellectual curiosities

Everything on the list is within your control. If all you do is focus on what is within your control, where will you be in 20 years? 30 years? 40 years?