All truth is…crooked?

“From the right point of view, every storm and every drop in it is a rainbow.” – Henry David Thoreau

It’s all in your perspective!

The other day as I was running a few errands I was quite taken back by the number of cars and congestion on the roads!  I glanced over at the driver next to me and he was visibly frustrated at the traffic – waving his hand and honking his horn at the car in front of him to MOVE!  I cracked a smile because there was nowhere to MOVE to.

The gentleman visibly “harrumphed”, collapsed his hands in exacerbation, and slammed his head back onto the headrest.  From his perspective the rest of us on the road were obviously in his way.  From MY perspective he, because his car was also on the road, was actually PART of the problem.

Isn’t it funny how we seem to have tunnel vision on some circumstances in our lives?  It’s like we are seeing through a telephoto lens when what we need to be looking through is a wide-angle lens. 

Too narrow or too self-centered of a perspective stunts our growth both personally and professionally.  We risk missing out on opportunities or seeing the truth for what it is.  But, too broad of a perspective, in business especially, can lead to less depth and can keep us sheltered from some truths.  We also risk being seen as too broad scoped and therefore not an expert in our industry. Yet, without a broad scope you may be focusing too narrowly on the wrong things.

Quite a quandary!

“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.”  – Arthur Schopenhauer

Perspective is just that…your own viewpoint.  Interesting fact:  the Latin root means to look through.  The official definition is ‘a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something, a way of considering something.’

Our perspective is based on a result of our own unique lens through which we view the world.  It comprises who we are, what we do, our beliefs, and our past.  It helps us create an understanding between the known and the unknown.  One of the most difficult obstacles to perspective is our past.  It shapes our lenses and how we view things that happen.   Our rearview mirror can distort our experiences of the world – or enhance them.

Nietzsche hit the nail on the head when he said, “…all truth is crooked” in regards to remembering the past.

At the time we go through things we have zigs and zags along the way – be it painful, or joyful, whatever we think or feel in that experience is vivid at the time.  Then, in looking back, our perspective changes.  In retrospect we straighten out the zigs and zags, we define patterns and create meaning around them, and we even add incomplete pictures and white space to the memory, so it often doesn’t even resemble the original crossroads.  And it certainly doesn’t have the same sting or elation we experienced at the time. 

All of this, in essence, reframes our past.  Often narrowing our looking glass, which in turn effects our perspective moving forward.  But our past is not the only “perspective indicator”.  Our desire to explain the unknown, our need to have quick answers, our inability to slow down to consider options, plus many other factors contribute to our individual perceptions.

The good news! Perspective is objective and can be controlled. 

First, we must fully understand and examine our beliefs and assumptions, resulting from past experiences that may fog our lenses with prejudice or ignorance.  Second, we must slowly and carefully view the world, not let habit or familiarity distort our view.

Thoreau encouraged his pupils to “see slowly and to broaden their lenses”.  He said that if you expect the surface layer, the first look, to give you a complete picture of the situation then you are going to miss out on opportunities and have unrealistic expectations.

A wide-lens perspective reduces our ignorance and takes the focus off ourselves.  This often results in a better understanding and more tolerant viewpoint, leading to strengthened relationships, innovation and ultimately being a better problem solver and overall, more well-rounded person.

Albert Einstein has been quoted as saying something to the effect of, ‘If I had to solve a problem in one hour, I would take 55 minutes to define the problem and 5 minutes to finding a solution.’

This is not an exact quote, and many say that he actually said two-thirds of the time on the problem…either way, he was more concerned with having clear perception of the problem at hand – FIRST in order to broaden his understanding of the true situation.

In order to improve ourselves, solve problems at hand, and grasp new opportunities, we need to enhance and examine our view.  We need to practice disciplined perception.  Upon first exposure of anything, we should take on the responsibility to control our thoughts and feelings around the circumstances.  To move away from the narrow perception of me/them and towards a broader view of us/ours.

Practicing disciplined perspective allows us to see more of the complete picture, receive the message clearly, and in turn provide better solutions, messages, and beauty to the world.

As business owners we cannot afford to see client’s problems the same way as everybody else does.  We need to not be lazy and jump to the solution too fast because we think we know their problems.  Our perception might be that we “got it”, but we may not have the complete story upon first glance.

Because we deal with the same, or similar, issues every day we are a “hair’s breadth aside from habitual paths and routine” (Thoreau) which may not serve our clients at the highest level.  I doubt our clients want a “routine” answer.

As we began inching forward again in the traffic it became apparent why the congestion was so thick and slow.  There had been an accident.  A bad one.

I wonder if while he drove past the wreckage he changed his perspective on the delay, softened his heart towards those that were injured, or if he simply kept his self-focused telephoto view and zoomed ahead to where he was headed once he cleared the back-up.  I’ll never know. 

By keeping our perspective in check, looking through more of a wide angle lens, not expecting circumstances to change but rather intentionally changing our perspective, we can not only change our view, our thoughts, our business, and even our feelings… but also our lives.