The Expanding Control: Why the Pursuit of Safety Can Lead to Disaster

Every entrepreneur has thought about what it’s like to control everything and everyone. Images of an ideal business come to mind, where every process is in place, and employees execute orders with pinpoint accuracy. This dream of control may seem enticing, especially if you were taught in childhood or adolescence that everything must be under control. “Pull the strings, and everything will be fine!” — how often do we hear this phrase? But is this desire for control worth the effort, or is it a path to nowhere?

Every entrepreneur has thought about what it’s like to control everything and everyone. Images of an ideal business come to mind, where every process is in place, and employees execute orders with pinpoint accuracy. This dream of control may seem enticing, especially if you were taught in childhood or adolescence that everything must be under control. “Pull the strings, and everything will be fine!” — how often do we hear this phrase? But is this desire for control worth the effort, or is it a path to nowhere?

How Control Can Become a Trap

The desire to keep everything under control can often turn into a real trap. We create instructions, set up barriers, and try to protect ourselves and our affairs from any risks, but what do we ultimately get? In practice, everything turns out the opposite: the more you try to control, the more slips through your fingers. It resembles a game of “hot potato”—the more you try to catch it, the faster it escapes.

The paradox of control is as follows: you try to avoid risks by creating new ones. At first, you think about how to preserve important data, starting with a simple backup. However, soon you find yourself facing the need for multilayered protection, and security begins to demand so many resources that its cost exceeds the value of the data itself. Not to mention that threats can come not only from hackers but also from employees who are simply asked to copy the database onto a flash drive.

Self-Sufficiency and Endless Vicious Circles

This all resembles substance dependence: the more you try to control, the more you want to control. At some point, control begins to exist for its own sake. Complex investment portfolios become an abstract game, and new projects are launched more out of habit than desire. You suddenly realize that your business no longer brings joy; it simply demands attention.

The complexity of daily life grows, and instead of happiness, you find only fatigue. Ultimately, all this leads to the realization that you control less and less, while the results drift further from what you desire. Every step you take turns into even greater confusion.

How to Break Free from Excessive Control

But is there a way out? Perhaps the solution lies in letting go of control. When you stop worrying about every detail, new horizons open up. The desire for control may not be as important as it seems.

Try to accept that some things should just happen naturally. If you really want to control everything, become the most powerful in your field. However, if your goal is to achieve harmony and success, come to terms with the fact that control doesn’t always lead to the desired results. Sometimes, you should just allow yourself to go with the flow of life without fixating on the small stuff.

The pursuit of control may seem useful, but it often leads to greater chaos and dissatisfaction. Perhaps it’s worth relaxing a little and allowing yourself not to control everything. Then your life, and your business as well, can become simpler and more joyful. By letting go of unnecessary control, you’ll open the doors to a new, more harmonious, and successful existence.