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Welcome to Dear Social Worker, 
Let's Talk, the podcast that 

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prioritises you, the person 
behind the title. 

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I'm your host, Lisa Ran, and I'm
the founder of Social Work 

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Coaching hub.com and I'm here to
help you become an emotionally 

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intelligent social work leader 
and of course, to promote your 

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well-being at 
socialworkcoachinghub.com 

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through one to one leadership 
development coaching events and 

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of course, this very podcast 
alongside our online resource 

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hub. 
Welcome to another episode. 

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I am today excited because I'm 
simply going to talk about one 

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of the main models that I use in
my coaching sessions. 

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So if you've been listening to 
me for a long time, you will 

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know that I'm an award-winning 
life coach. 

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I have been awarded two years in
a row, best coach in Birmingham,

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which is excited. 
Birmingham is an area in the UK 

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and I'm excited to share this 
model with you because it really

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helps you identify exactly where
you are and reframe what it is 

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you're thinking. 
Before I go into that though, 

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there's one thing I'd like to 
share with you, and I've never 

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done this on the podcast before,
but I have delivered a weekly 

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podcast now for approximately 18
months straight and I've been 

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thinking I'm going to take a 
break this summer. 

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So this is going to be the last 
episode before the next season. 

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I'm already setting up guests 
for the next season and 

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hopefully I won't have a cold by
then, so you'll have a smoother 

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tone when we meet back again. 
So today, briefly, I want to 

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talk to you about the sphere of 
influence. 

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And if you're one of my coaching
clients, you're going to go, 

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yes, I know this very well. 
You should, right? 

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This fear of influence comes in 
really handy when you're in a 

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dilemma, when you're facing a 
challenge, when you're unsure of

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how to move forward, when you're
unsure of how to unpick 

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something, or when you're 
thinking about a topic and you 

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just keep going over and over 
and over in your mind. 

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This fear of influence is a very
helpful tool to help you 

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compartmentalize what's 
happening so you can manage your

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emotions better and of course, 
come to your solution. 

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I want you to think of it as 
this. 

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There's three circles, just like
when you do an eco map, there's 

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three circles, a circle in the 
middle, which is called control 

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and the colour of that is green.
The 2nd circle is yellow and 

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that is called influence and the
3rd circle, the outer circle is 

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red and it's called no influence
and no control. 

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And this model I use in the 
majority of my coaching 

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sessions, it's a great starting 
point. 

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So let's say you're fed up of a 
colleague or your manager or a 

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parent that you're working with.
If you've tried everything you 

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can to communicate clearly with 
them, the result that you're 

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looking for is not there. 
You're not sure what to do next.

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First question is what is within
your control? 

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That's the green area. 
That's the middle circle. 

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And when we're talking about 
control, we are not necessarily 

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talking about the outcome. 
So, for example, let's use 

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another example of writing a 
court statement. 

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When you're writing a court 
statement, you're in control of 

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what goes into the court 
statement, right? 

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You're in control of who you see
and what you write, what your 

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recommendations are. 
Most of that you have autonomy. 

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When you think of the yellow 
area, the yellow area is about 

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influence. 
So where who can you influence 

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or what in this scenario can you
influence? 

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So if we use the example of a 
court statement, the influence 

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part comes in in the way in 
which you write that court 

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statement. 
And then lastly, your 

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recommendations. 
Your recommendations are set 

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with a view to have an outcome 
that you feel is best for the 

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children and family. 
Then when you go into the red 

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zone, no control or no 
influence, this is the part 

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where it gets interested because
the red zone is actually, in my 

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experience as a coach in the 
past 10 years, this is where 

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most people's brains navigate 
to. 

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When there's a dilemma, when 
there's a challenge, whether 

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it's work or personal, the red 
zone is where the mind goes to. 

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It thinks, OK, how am I going to
navigate this? 

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But I have no control over that.
I have no influence over that. 

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How am I going to navigate this?
I have no control over that. 

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I have no influence over that. 
And it continues to go round in 

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that cycle in an attempt to find
a solution, but the solution is 

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not available within the red 
zone. 

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Until you know you're in the red
zone where you have no control 

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and no influence. 
You continue around that cycle 

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literally thinking, how am I 
going to manage this? 

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There's no way out. 
Now part of that is due to the 

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programming in your subconscious
and we won't delve too deep into

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that, but on on the surface of 
it, there are patterns that are 

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formed when we're children. 
We know this from our child 

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development training and they 
can follow us into adulthood 

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unless we have an awareness that
they are there and that we want 

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to do something about them. 
And that will bring us into the 

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the muddle of the theory of 
change, the cycle of change. 

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Coming back to the red zone. 
Now, if we're cycling around the

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red zone, sometimes we don't 
even realise we're there. 

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And most of the time when a 
coachee comes into a coaching 

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session, when a social worker 
comes into a coaching session, 

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they are talking about an issue 
as if they have absolutely no 

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control. 
That means they're not talking 

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from an empowered place, they're
talking from a place of fear, 

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they're talking from a place of 
worry. 

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Now, there are scenarios that 
will create that space and 

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that's understandable and we 
acknowledge those feelings. 

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But once you've given those 
feelings of space to breathe, 

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then we need to be thinking of 
my first question to you is, OK,

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what is within your control in 
this scenario? 

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What outcome do you want that 
you have some control over the 

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green area, that middle circle, 
that first circle, that is the 

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area of empowerment. 
That is your place of power. 

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Now it may be that when you 
think of your areas of control, 

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you may be thinking these areas 
of control are far less right. 

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You may have two options in that
green area, but isn't it more 

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effective to have options of 
which you can control, rather 

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than thinking yourself into the 
red zone and cycling in the red 

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zone where you have no control 
and no influence over the 

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outcome? 
Guaranteed there's no solution 

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there. 
Sometimes we need to reframe the

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way that we think about things, 
and some of that reframe begins 

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with identifying what was your 
objective in the first place? 

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What was your objective? 
What did you set out to do? 

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Was it clear? 
Was it timely? 

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Was it measurable? 
When you think of those 

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elements, you begin to realise 
that some of the things that 

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you're thinking about in the red
zone no longer apply. 

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Then let's think about your area
of influence. 

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Who or what can you influence 
was the question that I asked. 

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In the scenario where you have 
your court statement. 

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I referred to the 
recommendations. 

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That's your area of influence. 
The way that you write your 

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court statement, that's your 
your area of influence. 

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If we're talking about a 
conflict with a person, whether 

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they're at work or at home, who 
or what is your area of 

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influence? 
Is there someone in your family 

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that you know that listens well 
or that someone else listens to 

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well? 
It's literally deducing from 

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your challenge or your scenario.
What is your green area? 

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What is your yellow area? 
You may not be happy with what 

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you find in the green or the 
yellow, but ultimately that is 

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where your control or influence 
lies. 

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Either way, that red area will 
not bring you the result that 

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you're looking for, the solution
that you're looking for. 

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I hope this is helping someone 
today. 

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I hope this is helping someone 
think about what challenge are 

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they facing right now? 
And you know, are you thinking 

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about it from the perspective of
the red zone, yellow zone, or 

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the green? 
And I'm telling you, I've seen 

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this over and over again with 
hundreds of social workers I've 

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coached. 
The relief that they feel when 

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they've identified they're in 
the red zone or perhaps even in 

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the yellow zone when they've got
Green Zone options. 

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The relief the way that you 
think about things and the way 

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that you feel about things and 
the way that you respond to 

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scenarios. 
They change once you've applied 

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the sphere of influence model. 
Now I want to remind you, 

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Saturday the 19th of October we 
are hosting the first National 

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Black and Diverse Safeguarding 
Professionals Conference 

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happening in Birmingham, UK. 
It's the first event of this 

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kind ever to take place in this 
country and I will be hosting 

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that event with lots of speakers
and a black-owned business 

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marketplace. 
You can go to 

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socialworkcoachinghub.com/events
to access tickets to go to the 

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event. 
And next year Mark will be 

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having another event called the 
Empowering Social Workers 

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Conference and the Social Work 
Coaching Hub Awards. 

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It's going to be a great, great 
day. 

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So stay tuned for all the 
information about the events 

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happening next year in London. 
But this year I want to see you 

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all there at the Black and 
Diverse Safeguarding 

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Professionals Conference in 
Birmingham, 19th of October. 

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Here's some special guest 
speakers. 

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I will say, that being said, 
recap sphere of influence, green

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area, your area of control. 
Yeah, how you can have some form

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of control over the outcome or 
the solution. 

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What is your area of power? 
What's going to make you feel 

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empowered? 
Your yellow area is your area of

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influence. 
Who or what can you influence so

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you can get closer to the 
solution and outcome you're 

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looking for. 
And then the red area is the 

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area of no control and no 
influence. 

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That's the area that often as 
humans, we spend the most time 

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in because we are unaware that 
we're going around in this 

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cycle. 
And I want you to think about 

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your scenario using this model, 
putting it into those 3 

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categories and really 
identifying what are the 

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possible solutions from this 
scenario. 

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From that note, a reminder, I 
will be taking a short summer 

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break and coming back bigger and
better than ever for the Dear 

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Social Worker podcast. 
I might do a bonus episode or 

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two. 
You know me as I feel like I 

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can't help it sometimes. 
Until then, have a blessed 

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summer and I will see you all 
very soon.