Benefits and Mindsets of a Different Perspective
Are you feeling stuck? Like you’re no longer innovating? Your life and business are circling on a roundabout, expending your valuable energy and time but going nowhere?
I have created a series on the three P’s of my Roundabout Hero program to help you get unstuck. The three P’s - Position, Perspective, and Purpose - are a progression to escape circling the roundabout, in order to reach your summit to live the purpose-filled, significant life you desire.
The Roundabout Hero™ Process
- Position: Define your position through an honest assessment of where you are, your Point A (we did this using the HALFERS Model in the Position Exercise).
- Perspective: Understand the different points of view you need to successfully complete your journey.
- Purpose: Intentionally move off the roundabout and toward your greater purpose to successfully to reach your Point B.
In my last series of three articles on POSITION, I provided the process and tools to assess your Point A (where you currently are) across seven essential life aspects - Health, Attitude, Learning, Finances, Employment, Relationships, and Spirituality using my HALFERS Model. We also created a first draft of a plan where you want to be, identifying your Point B. I invite you to download and complete the Position Exercise (link) as the next two P’s, PERSPECTIVE and PURPOSE, will build upon POSITION.
Let’s move to the PERSPECTIVE portion of the Roundabout Hero program.
If you are circling a roundabout, stuck and wondering where to exit, PERSPECTIVE will aid your next step in helping you to exit the never-ending loop of going nowhere fast.
As related to your journey, think of PERSPECTIVE in three ways:
The first way is to gain a different perspective for your life from an enhanced or elevated point of view. The second is to define the mindset(s) that will enable you to move forward in a positive direction. The third is to see yourself in a new light to create a clear picture of yourself in your desired life.
Perspective One: Enhance or Elevate Your Perspective
To enhance is to intensify or further improve. To elevate is to raise to a higher position. An enhanced or elevated perspective helps you view the situation objectively, considering it in a detached manner that is without emotion. You step back, expand your view, and imagine that you are seeing what is happening while distanced from the situation to gain an unbiased view.
The benefits to gaining this perspective are numerous. You create the ability to see your situation in a new light through objectivity. You look at your skills, experiences, and interests - and open your mind to possibilities. If you try to imagine yourself as a coach who would guide you, you may see opportunities that you didn’t recognize before.
Gaining this kind of perspective comes with its challenges. Now may be the first time you’ve been ready and able to take a close look at your situation in this light because it previously felt too intimidating or painful to view.
Or maybe you thought, “Nothing to see here!” because self-limiting beliefs caused you to doubt your ability to make desired changes, or because previous attempts got you nowhere fast. “It’s just the way I am,” was an excuse on repeat.
It can also feel uncomfortable to see things about yourself that you don’t like. Regret is like an annoying gnat, reminding you what you could have done differently.
Where progress is needed, a commensurate commitment of time, money, and effort may be required, along with outside help. You may need to make significant life changes to create the life you want. Being true to yourself may impact others, sometimes negatively. But it’s necessary to let go of close-held detrimental beliefs about yourself.
To exit a roundabout, your life may become more complicated before it becomes more straightforward. But viewing yourself and your situation from an elevated perspective, seeing what and where you can be, will give you new and fresh insights that are invaluable for your growth. Additionally, this leads to another form of perspective to keep progressing - your mindset.
Perspective Two: Perspective-Based Mindsets
Here are seven proactive mindsets that can assist us in working through the disappointments and obstacles we will inevitably face on our journeys.
Mindset 1. Focus on the benefits of creating positive change. Often change is good - but transition can be a bear! When a woman is in labor, the baby’s transition is the last part and can be intense and painful. But the reward is great with birth. The transition period is temporary. Focus on the positive. Starve the negative.
Mindset 2. Stay positive through setbacks. Setbacks make you scramble and can include health, relationship, and work issues. But you can boost resilience through belief in yourself and your abilities. This is enhanced by engaging supportive people in your inner circles, and through uplifting, inspirational stories, books, and videos.
Positive responses like, “I can do this. I’ve got this!” will help you to respond instead of merely react.
Mindset 3. Compartmentalize mistakes and failures. Acknowledging imperfection is a way to maintain the mindset that mistakes (and even failures) are part of the process of growth and change. With this mindset, we put mistakes in their own category as valuable lessons and turn them into opportunities for improvement. We don’t dwell on what we did wrong; we use the experience to boost our resolve to get back on track and move forward.
Mindset 4. View roadblocks as challenges. Just as tools such as Siri reroute us when we encounter a roadblock, brainstorming alone or with trusted friends can help us reroute our life when deterred or discouraged. For additional help, seek potential solutions in inspiring videos and stories online and request help from others who may have experienced a similar situation. Have the confidence to know that the roadblock is no match for you!
Mindset 5. Become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Leaving our comfort zone is often necessary along the path to meaningful change. Doing so builds courage and confidence to reach accomplishments that we previously assumed were impossible.
After the years spent away from the spotlight raising our three sons, I worked with a coach, putting in many hours of repetition and work to create a one-woman headline music show. It wasn’t always comfortable and cost a great deal of my time, energy and even resources. I had to dig deep to find the boldness to overcome my discomfort with the commitment of making this role change and the difficulty of preparation. It would be easier to stay where I was, but I knew in my heart there was so much more. As I fought through doubt, anxiety, and fear of failure, the perspective and clear picture of my success got me to my intended successful result. I found this mindset would prove valuable for additional roundabouts that would occur in my life.
Mindset 6. Overcome inertia. Whether we are stuck because we are afraid of the time and effort required, we don’t know where to start, or we don’t want to risk resisting tradition, we must make the commitment to create positive change in our lives. The first step is always the hardest one. We may upset other people as they are accustomed to us meeting their needs before our own, and things may get worse before they get better. Take that step anyway.
Mindset 7. Erase the outside noise. We will encounter detractors and distractions as they are everywhere. But we know ourselves better than anyone else, and we must stick to our convictions about our chosen path. Tune out the negativity, dissatisfaction, or ridicule of others, and ignore the shiny objects trying to capture our attention. This also includes negative self-talk. Stay intent on moving forward toward your intended result.
My husband was a relief pitcher for the Cleveland Guardians (previously the Cleveland Indians). Through the roar of the crowd, he maintained quiet in his mind when standing on the mound. He kept his intense focus on what he needed to do - place a ball into an area with dimensions of about three standard pencils tall by two pencils wide from sixty feet away at over 90 miles per hour - to beat the batter. His mindset is a relevant illustration for us. With focused intent, we can propel ourselves towards our goals.
Mindset 8. Keep self-care as a priority. Reaching our Point B is easier when we take care of ourselves first. Get enough rest through good quality sleep and stay hydrated. Reward hard work with time to relax (mental and physical) and fun activities. Even when fully focused on achieving our goals, we must strike a balance to maintain our health and well-being. When we are at our best mentally and physically, we are more productive, creative, and better able to manage through setbacks.
Perspective Three: Seeing Ourselves in a New Light
Here, we imagine ourselves living the life we’ve defined as our Point B. Applying this perspective is akin to creating a clear picture in our minds of our successful arrival.
By seeing ourselves in a new light, we make accomplishing our goals possible, even probable. Professional athletes use this perspective to see themselves performing foundational skills with perfection then follow through with execution to win games and races. Entertainers use this perspective to see themselves on stage performing their lines and songs with excellence, then execute the preparation to deliver outstanding shows for their audiences. Creating this clear image of an intended outcome applies to both our personal and professional lives.
Let’s go back to my friend Susan from our Position articles. By acknowledging the financial missteps she made, she honestly assessed her current position and worked her way out of the financial difficulties. With her financial house in order, she now wants to tackle the 30 pounds gained as a result of the financial stress.
Using this perspective, Susan can imagine herself as she was before the financial challenges - healthier and happier without the extra weight. By creating a clear picture of herself in the physical condition she wishes to achieve, she can use that image as motivation to create a step-by-step action plan to become that former version of herself. She might begin to prioritize seven to eight hours of sleep nightly or, when stressed, head outside for a quick walk instead of snacking.
Susan may combine this perspective of seeing herself as 30 pounds lighter with the other perspectives (and mindsets) discussed in this article. She can take an enhanced or elevated view of her current situation and determine what advice a coach or other advisor would give her. She can apply the mindset of overcoming inertia to prioritize her health and the mindset of staying positive through setbacks to get back on her program after a day of struggling to make healthy choices. Combining these perspectives can be incredibly powerful in enabling us to move from our Point A to our Point B.
Get your FREE Perspective Journal Prompts Download. Next article: Perspective from Others
It’s necessary to let go of close-held detrimental beliefs about yourself.
deborah johnson
Thought Leader, Keynote Speaker, Author
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