Change Your Perspective; Change the World

Changing how you see the world changes the world you see. From writing a novel to working on an entrepreneurial idea, we must continually see the world with fresh eyes. That’s hard to do when you feel like you’re stuck doing the same thing over and over or aren’t even sure what it is you want to do. Ever feel like you’re spending time circling the mountain but never gaining altitude? That makes all of us at one time or another. Fortunately, creativity flows from constraint. In that sense, these moments when we feel stuck are simply periods for us to reframe, catalyze and (re)launch in a new direction. To help speed you on your way to a new perspective, here are seven things I do to reframe my point of view.

Practice Acceptance: Acceptance isn’t defeat; it’s the prelude to victory. To best achieve our aims, we’ve got to efficiently deploy our resources. Remember that ancient “science” they called Alchemy? Instead of expending so much effort trying to turn base metal into gold, perhaps those alchemists would have been better off building a proverbial lemonade stand. Recognizing and accepting what we can(not) change allows us to better spend our time, energy, emotion, and will. That way we can shake off the distractions that keep us from honing in on what matters most—the destination. Focus intact, we can formulate the plan to get there. Once we’ve sorted what’s within and without our control, it’s time to…

Get Naked: Strip down to your base desires. Sounds a bit uncomfortable, doesn’t it? Sometimes the hardest thing to do is owning what we want and why we want it. This is just as true in work as it is in love. If you’re struggling to move forward it might be because there’s misalignment between your vision and motivation. What do you want? Why? Attempting to do the “right” thing for the “wrong” reasons will quickly leave you feeling burnt out. In life, I often say, there are three things—strategy, operations, and tactics. The key to effective strategy isn’t just knowing what you want to do, but also why you want to do it. Asking yourself “why am I doing this?” allows you to both dig down to whether you’re choosing the right methods as well as to see through the noise. Alright, so you know where you want to go and why, but perhaps you’re not quite sure how to get there. Now’s the perfect time to…

Walk a Different Path: Shake up the process. What are things you’re doing today because that’s how you first learnt to do it, or because people tell you that this is how it’s supposed to be done? I once heard a story about a woman (let’s call her, Louise) whose grandmother taught her that you have to cut corn upwards to make a particular dish. One day, Louise decided to work with gravity by cutting down. She discovered that she could both cut faster and with less probability of slicing off one of her digits. Louise also found that she had gravely insulted her grandmother’s sensibilities. Not everyone will affirm your new process. Sometimes people choose to view you doing things differently as a referendum on their decision not to change. In which case, you might want to share these seven tactics with them, and then…

Sit Somewhere Else: Leverage your environment. As humans, we’re wired to see and remember patterns. While this skill is great for allowing us to short-hand our way to quick decisions, it sometimes prematurely locks us into old methods and vantage points. Every year, I try to travel to a part of the globe I’ve never visited. I’m jotting down the first draft of these thoughts whilst exploring Central Europe. From eating to designing, travel allows me to experience myriad ways to perform the same task. That in and of itself is amazingly inspirational. But, you don’t have to cross the world. Sometimes changing your scenery can be as simple as working from a different room, swapping your regular coffee shop for a park bench, or merely going for a walk. Always take the same path to work? Try a road you never take. When things feel different, we’re forced to notice more. That gives us new tools to tackle whatever it is we’re trying to do. We can leverage what we learn to…

Play a Role: Wear a different persona. Roleplaying enables us to discover the bits of ourselves that we so often bury and ignore. More often than not, elements of our personalities become inert simply because we don’t make space to practice them. Don’t think you can dance? Take a dance class. Total introvert (like me)? Push yourself to get social. Perhaps you’re an extrovert who could benefit from a bit of solitary introspection. You just might find that you’ve got your own kind of rhythm or that you can connect with people in unique ways you never thought you could. This isn’t about trying to become someone else; that’s exhausting. It’s about allowing yourself to say yes (and no) to different ways to be. But, how do you decide what to keep and let go, which tool to use in any given moment? May I suggest that you…

Draw A Tree: Make a map. Quite literally get out a piece of paper and sketch where it is you want to go. Force yourself to draw out alternative routes to get there. So (if you can’t tell) I’m a bit of a nerd. That means, that yes, I sometimes draw a decision tree to decide whether I want strawberry or caramel ice cream, and I have been known to leverage game theory to deduce whether I should talk to my crush (don’t judge me!). One of my sisters often likes to remind me that life isn’t a math problem. While (I’m slowly) learning that you can’t logic your way through everything, there’s value in breaking down a situation into its modular components so that you can shift things around. Thinking through the wide variety of choices you can make—and what happens if you choose something—is absolutely liberating because…

Remember, You’re Free to Change: A thousand years isn’t forever. This is something my grandmother always used to say. Sometimes feeling as though our decisions are final inhibits us from making a choice. Last year, I knew that I wanted (and needed) to change jobs. An increasingly clear picture of where I wanted to be and what I wanted to be doing had emerged in my head. However, where I wanted to be wasn’t a place to which I could simply leap frog. Like most of us, I had other constraints that meant I needed to take more of a serpentine path forward. Still, I felt weary about every job opportunity that crossed my path. Eventually, I had to realize that whatever job I took next wasn’t forever. It would serve a specific purpose for a specific season in my life. That knowledge gave me the freedom to retool my interim expectations and objectives. I decided the next job had to provide me with two things. First it had to have some application to a personal passion area. Second, it had to allow me the time and space to move towards where I ultimately want to be.

Even when shifting our perspective, we shouldn’t lose sight of the target. At the end of the day, we measure success in progress made because the destination will always evolve. We’ll grow into new goals and aspire to new ambitions.

If you find these (or any other tactics) helpful in adapting your point of view, I’d love to hear about it. Be sure to share what you do to alter your perspective in the comments below!