Templates / Circle of influence worksheet

Coaching

Circle of influence worksheet

Free PDF • 1 page, print-ready • Clinician-reviewed

Tanja Lepcheska Last updated September 4, 2026 Reviewed by Dr. Vanja Kitanova

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A circle of influence worksheet sorts a patient’s worry into what they control, what they can influence, and what they have to accept. It turns a looping fear into a short list of next steps. That matters most for anxious patients, who tend to pour energy into the outer zone they can’t move.

Get the sorting right and the session ends with a plan. Get it wrong and a manager’s mood ends up filed under “my job,” and effort changes nothing. What follows covers the three zones, a five-step session walkthrough, worked examples, common mistakes, and how to track the sheet over time.

Template details

Template type

Worksheet

Format

Printable PDF, 1 page

Sections

1 section

Fields to complete

6 fields

Best for

Coaching

Key takeaways

The worksheet sorts one concern into three zones: what a patient controls, what they can influence, and what they need to accept.

Stephen Covey’s original model had two circles, concern and influence, and the control zone is a later addition.

The printable sheet uses two writing boxes, so add the influence layer by starring items the patient can still affect.

Ask the sorting questions in order, control first, then influence, then acceptance, so the patient doesn’t skip straight to worry.

Repeating the sheet a month later shows which items moved inward, which gives you something concrete to review in session.

The worksheet sorts worry into three zones

The worksheet is a visual thinking tool. A patient writes one concern at the top, then sorts its parts into concentric zones. The inner zone holds what they control directly, such as their words, sleep, or boundaries. The middle zone holds what they can influence but not decide. The outer zone holds what they can only acknowledge.

Stephen Covey‘s original model, from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, used two circles. Influence sat inside a wider circle of concern. The three-zone version, with control at the center, is a later expansion that many therapists and coaches now use.

The model overlaps with locus of control, the psychology idea of how much people believe their actions shape outcomes. Focusing on the inner zones can help patients feel less stuck and decide more clearly. For patients who want to explore that belief directly, a locus of control worksheet makes a natural follow-on.

The printable sheet keeps the layout simple. It has two writing boxes, one for what the patient controls and one for what they don’t. A closing exercise then asks which out-of-reach items could move inward one day, and how.

Circle of control vs circle of influence: Each zone needs its own response

Mixing up the zones wastes effort. A patient who tries to control a colleague’s opinion wears themselves out. One who accepts what they could change stays stuck. Some clinicians call this the circle of control and influence model, or spheres of control, and the logic is the same.

Three questions, asked in order, do the sorting. Can I control this? If not, can I influence it? If not, can I accept it and move on? The diagram below shows where each answer lands.

The thinking is far older than Covey. Stoic philosophers like Epictetus argued the same idea centuries earlier. Covey’s influence-and-concern model and later three-zone versions echo it. Patients who like that framing often keep a daily Stoic journal between sessions.

Who gets the most out of it

Because the sorting works on any worry, the sheet travels well across settings. Therapists, counselors, and psychologists use it most, mainly in anxiety treatment, CBT and ACT work, and stress management. Practices running software built for therapists often send it digitally before or after a session.

Coaches use it in goal-setting conversations, where it clears mental clutter before planning starts. It slots into coaching client management routines as a pre-session task. Occupational therapists and health teams add it to resilience programs, especially for workers recovering from burnout or living with chronic stress.

What patients gain from sorting their worries

Separating stressors you can change from those you can’t is a core idea in stress and coping work. The worksheet turns that idea into a single-session exercise. Here’s what it tends to give patients.

• Less rumination. Naming what they can’t control gives patients permission to stop fighting those battles. Many find some relief once those worries have a place on paper.
• A plan instead of overwhelm. Once the concern is mapped, the next step is usually obvious. Patients move from “I’m overwhelmed” to “Here’s what I’ll do this week.”
• A record you can revisit. A completed sheet becomes a reference point across sessions. You can see how the patient’s sense of agency changes over time.
• A bridge to goal setting. Ask, “What in your inner circle do you want to change this month?” The answer frames the goal as something within reach.

To carry that action forward, move it into a client goals template before the patient leaves. Filed in a patient record system, both sheets stay together for the next review.

Before you hand it over: A quick checklist

A little preparation keeps the first run short and focused. Check these five points before the session.

• Pick one concern to work on, not a whole life review.
• Decide on two zones or three, based on how much energy the patient has that day.
• Have one example ready for each zone, ideally close to the patient’s situation.
• Leave time at the end for the sheet’s closing exercise on moving items inward.
• Agree on when you’ll repeat the sheet, so there’s a later version to compare.

How to run the worksheet in five steps

With the prep done, the exercise itself is simple. Patients still sort better with a little guidance, and these steps work well for a first session.

1. Explain the zones. Spend a minute or two on the three circles. Control means “directly in your power.” Influence means “you can affect it but not guarantee it.” Concern means “it exists, but you can’t change it.”
2. Name one concern. Ask, “What’s weighing on you right now?” Write that single topic at the top, such as “anxiety at work” or “family conflict.”
3. Fill the inner circle. Ask, “What part of this is fully in your hands?” Effort, tone, sleep, boundaries, and asking for help all belong here. This step often surfaces agency the patient had overlooked.
4. Fill the influence zone. Ask, “What can you affect but not decide?” Think of a manager’s view of your work, team morale, or where a relationship goes. On the printable sheet, write these in the second box and star them.
5. Fill the outer circle. Ask, “What’s beyond your reach right now?” The economy, other people’s choices, and past events go here. Then ask whether the patient can set these aside for now.

Close by asking, “Where will you put your energy this week?” The answer almost always sits in the inner two zones. Then run the sheet’s own exercise. Pick one starred or outer item and ask whether it could move inward one day, and how.

Circle of influence examples from therapy and coaching

Seeing someone else’s sort makes a patient’s own easier to start. These three situations come up often in session.

• Anxiety at work. Control: preparing well, asking clarifying questions, speaking up. Influence: a colleague’s openness to feedback, a shared project. Concern: the manager’s mood, a restructure, office gossip. Sorting these shifts attention from the manager’s day to the patient’s own work.
• Family conflict. Control: your own words, your boundaries, when you engage. Influence: whether a relative opens up or listens. Concern: their past choices, and whether they ever apologize. Patients stop trying to “fix” someone else and protect themselves instead.
• Health and weight. Control: food choices, movement, sleep habits. Influence: the family’s eating patterns. Concern: genetics, aging, and conditions they didn’t choose. This framing helps patients caught in guilt over factors they can’t alter.

Common mistakes that stall the exercise

Even with good examples, a few habits trip up the sort. Each one has a quick fix.

• Mapping several concerns at once. The zones blur, and the patient leaves with a list instead of a plan. Keep each sheet to one topic.
• Filing other people’s choices under control. Someone else’s behavior is influence at best. Ask, “Could you make this happen on your own?”
• Skipping the outer circle. Some patients resist writing down what they can’t change. Naming it is what lets them set it aside.
• Treating it as a one-off handout. Without a repeat, there’s nothing to compare. Book the follow-up before the session ends.

Where it fits in mental health treatment

In therapy, the worksheet sits comfortably alongside CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy). Both work on unhelpful thinking patterns. Rumination about events outside a patient’s control is common in both anxiety and depression.

Structured tools like this give patients a tangible record of their thinking. They can take it home and revisit it without waiting for the next appointment. Short prompts between sessions keep the work going, so patients come back ready to report on what they did.

Using it with teams and at work

The same framework works for staff as well as patients. Practice managers, HR leads, and occupational health teams use it to build accountability and ease stress.

• Team meetings. Pick a shared problem, such as project delays or slipping patient satisfaction. Each person maps it alone, then the group compares circles. Blame often sits in the outer zone, while the fixes sit in the inner two.
• Occupational health. Wellness programs often pair the worksheet with goal setting. Employees map their stress sources, then build an action plan from the inner circle.
• Staff development. In resilience or stress-management training, the sheet helps employees separate what they can change from background noise.

If you want a before-and-after read on stress levels, pair the worksheet with the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory. It gives the team conversation a baseline to measure against.

How Pabau brings the worksheet into patient care

Paper worksheets tend to go missing between appointments, and nobody remembers which version was the latest. Pabau, the practice management platform we build, lets you send the worksheet as a digital form. Patients fill it in through the Client Portal before or after a session.

Each completed sheet saves to the patient’s record next to your session notes. Weeks later, you can open the same three zones and see which items moved inward. Automated reminders can prompt patients to redo the sheet each month, so it stays part of ongoing care.

Turn the worksheet into ongoing care

Send the circle of influence worksheet as a digital form, keep every version in the patient record, and schedule reminders to repeat it.

Book a demo

Conclusion

The worksheet does its best work on the second run. Have the patient redo the same zones a month later. Any item that moved from the outer circle inward is progress worth naming in session.

Skip that follow-up and the sheet stays a one-off handout. Keep each version on file instead, and it becomes a running measure of how the patient’s sense of agency shifts. Book a demo to see how Pabau keeps worksheets like this beside your session notes, with reminders to repeat them.

Continue your research

Working with patients on emotion regulation? Distress tolerance skills worksheet gives patients a DBT-based toolkit for riding out intense emotions without acting on them.

Treating anxiety with exposure work? Interoceptive exposure worksheet walks patients through inducing and tolerating physical anxiety sensations.

Seeing patients stuck in worry loops? Ruminating thoughts worksheet helps patients notice repetitive thinking and redirect it toward action.

Coaching clients through big decisions? Coach notebook gives coaches a structured template for capturing session notes and action items.

Onboarding a new coaching client? Life coach intake form collects the background and goals you need before the first session.

Frequently asked questions