No Spoilers!

Ridley Scott’s The Martian is a light-hearted science fiction movie set in Mars, with Matt Damon taking the lead role. Based on the book by Andy Weir, Astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a manned mission to Mars goes haywire. Watney survives and finds himself stranded alone on Mars.

From beginning to end, Mark Watney is shown to be in a Hyper-Proactive state, focusing on solving problems to keep himself alive, instead of focusing on his Circle of Concern.

I’ve previously talked about how focusing on your Circle of Influence can help you overcome numerous challenges.

With only a short amount of supply and little time, the majority of the movie takes place with Watney alone on Mars. Watney is shown being proactive and constantly solving new problems. Whenever something would go wrong, we see Watney experimenting to find creative ways to overcome challenges, instead of being overwhelmed by the situation and being stuck in a state of helplessness.

Although the movie does occasionally show Watney expressing his frustration and anger at his situation, the majority of the movie shows Watney focusing on his Circle of Influence. This really resonated with me, as it reminded me of a situation I was in not too long ago.

I was helping my girlfriend get a Visitor Visa to come to Canada, but this ended up being much more difficult than we expected. Given how immigration offices generally work – you don’t get to ever meet or talk to the immigration officer and have 0 ways to communicate with that person – it was an extremely frustrating experience.

Instead of focusing on my Circle of Concern and getting into a state of depression, I was focusing more on what I can do to help. I invested my energy in figuring out what type of documents I already have that I can supply her with, and what are some documents that we can work together to create that may meet the Canadian Embassy’s requirements.

No we weren’t stranded on Mars, nor were we close to death, but the mindset was the same.

I will vaguely describe a scene to avoid spoiling anything: there was a scene where Watney loses some of his already-short food supply. Although he shows his anger and frustration to the audience, Watney quickly switches his focus on what he can do instead of what he can’t.

If you consistently focus on your Circle of Influence, you will start to get in a Hyper-Proactive state where taking massive amounts of action to reach your goal is your “normal”. Whenever a challenge presents itself, being in a Hyper-Proactive state will make it easier to focus on figuring out how to overcome that challenge in order for you to reach your goal.

You can follow me @Marwanalshafei where I spark rainbows within people’s subconscious and make the world go round n’ round.