Context provides the framework for our perspectives and then our experiences. Last night I was driving in the snow and it was sloooow going. It took me twice as long to get to my meeting as usual. Then, I had to clear snow and ice off my car when I got out of the meeting – not a happy camper! Side note, I haven’t had to clear snow off my car yet this winter, so really no reason to be unhappy. It’s February in the Midwest, for crying out loud!
Then, this morning when I woke up, that same snow was sparkling in the sunshine and looked beautiful! Same snow, different perspective and different experience. I was mesmerized by the sparkling snow. It got me thinking about how we often observe things and then use a single-minded focus to interpret our experiences.
How can you recognize when your perspective is not supporting you? It often shows up when you judge someone else or yourself. It might occur when you see something as either/or rather than the possibility that it could be both. What if you approached those experiences with curiosity? “I wonder how I could do it differently next time?” For example, you repeatedly ask your teen to clean up his room. He doesn’t do it and you get into a back and forth about it. Your teen promises to clean up his room and then doesn’t do it, yet again.
You could take that to mean he is being defiant, the rebellious teen. That may be the case or it might be that he has low Workability Life Energy and forgets that he said he’d do it. This isn’t an excuse, it simply is an opportunity to find a way to help him remember and then take action! Your sense of order, which is natural for you, isn’t how his brain functions. I know it’s bewildering, but it’s a very different perspective and experience between the two of you. Check out a refresher about your lowest Life Energy here.
Are there areas within your business where you keep running into the same problem? For instance, do you scramble to get reports together at the last minute before meetings, every time? Or, do you spend copious amounts of time thinking about the problem, only to get stalled out in “thinking about” rather than taking action? Conversely, do you jump into taking action without first thinking about the big picture? If you keep getting stuck in the same place, it’s time to look at other possibilities or perspectives. Interestingly, you are surprised and feel blindsided each time, even though it is a familiar pattern. You can’t quite figure out how to do it differently.
We often have blinders on to the strategies we use that no longer work, hence feeling blindsided again and again. It may be time to have a coach help you see a different perspective so you can take action that supports what you want to achieve. Let me know, I can help you with that?
What if you recognize that feeling of being blindsided as a signal to be curious about what’s going on? Use the feeling of being blindsided as a roadmap to areas where you can take different action based on a different perspective.
When have you clung to your perspective without being willing to see the other person’s point of view? When have you been curious about your own perspective, open to an expanded point of view? What were your experiences? Looking forward to reading your comments below.
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