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When you’re stuck on something or you’re not sure what to do or you’re uncertain what direction to take, it helps to get perspective. Literally. I’ve touched on “borrowing” from your heroes to make yourself more effective, but now let’s use it as more of a diagnostic tool to help us figure things out.
“The Kid”with Bruce Willis is a prime example. The point of view helped a man find and remember what is really important to him, and that will lead off our list:
- Yourself as a child. Go back to when you were younger and as a little kid look at yourself now. Do you like what you see? Do you like who you are? What, as a kid, do you think is the way to go?
- Yourself years from now. How about getting some of that much-coveted 20/20 hindsight before it’s released to the public? A hot item, I would think
As with the previous one, you want to look with the perspective of yourself years from now. The longer, the better. What really mattered back then (now) and what didn’t? Would you have done anything differently, and if so, what? - Your hero. I mentioned it before, but “borrowing” the best traits of your hero or heroes can make a seemingly complex problem suddenly make sense.
- The enlightened one. Think “Jedi” here. What would Yoda or Luke do in a situation like this? Moving beyond fiction, what would Mother Theresa or H.H. the Dalai Lama do?
- The unenlightened one. Back to Star Wars, what would the Emperor or Vader do? Moving beyond fiction, think of a hated name from history (take your pick) and ask yourself what would they do?
- The newcomer. Imagine that someone comes in without knowing anything about the situation or history. What do they see, and what does that tell them?
- The generations to come. This one is similar to the one where you project some years ahead, but this is more of a focus on how this plays out historically, which relates to…
- Yourself as a mythic hero(ine). There is power in myth. If you can look at your life as a mythic tale, you can find connections and ideas that you wouldn’t have access to otherwise.
- The Trickster. Troublesome, but not necessarily malevolent, the trickster likes to turn things on their head. Try being a trickster and seeing what you can find by putting elements of what you are dealing with in a (figurative) blender and see what happens.
- The higher self. This is perhaps the most powerful of them all. Imagine a version of you that has spent all the time in the world perfecting yourself and has reached enlightenment. The higher self is above the day-to-day life and sees the surrounding terrain. What would a perfected you do?
As you work with these more and more, you will find which ones suit you more. Over time, you may find that the process of trying out different points-of-view to get some perspective becomes almost second nature. Do you have any points of view to add to the list? Let us know in the comments!
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