The Circles of Influence

I'll often talk to my trekkers about coming into an expedition with an open mind. This really is a skill that is learn across multiple expeditions, but when you break it down into what I once heard called 'The Circles of Influence', it is plain to see that there are a lot of things on an expedition which are far from your control.

The Circles of Influence

Controllable Factors

As you can see from the Venn Diagram, there aren't too many things under your control once on expedition, with arguably all of them apart from 'Personal Hygiene' being things to sort before departure. Personal hygiene refers to keeping yourself clean and sanitised, purifying water and eating appropriate foods.

Uncontrollable Factors

This circle is pretty full, and I'm sure there are probably more I've not even listed. Most of the things listed have popped up at least once on expeditions I've been on, with weather likely being the one that throws the most amount of curveballs. In truth, it's rare an expedition sails through completely unaffected by an uncontrollable factor.

Not all uncontrollable factors lead to major changes, sometimes it's a case of evaluating a plan or having a small delay. The more open-minded you are to these things happening, the better your expedition experience will be.

When you book onto an expedition with us you can be assured that we have systems in place to navigate the expedition through many of these factors.