Two Tools to Help Us Remember the Bigger Picture

We all are going to face problems, whether minor or major, we all have and will. Some of us are going to handle them better than others, and, in fact, some of us may fall into the grips of stress and the detrimental cycles they can cause, blinding us from what truly matters. As Leaders, it is our responsibility to provide perspective for those who may find themselves in this blindfolded position, to help remind them that the bigger picture is still there.

When we begin our journey into something, whether it is a venture into learning new skills, building a project, or strengthening relationships, we tend to begin with so much intensity that it’s inspiring. And it’s all great until, somewhere along the way, we begin to bump into problems. And by problems, I mean things that don’t go our way; this is why nobody “likes” problems because nobody typically likes it when things don’t go their way.

Problems, for the most part, tend to be a matter of preference.
Why?
Ask ourselves why is it that when something unexpected happens and we like them, they are called “surprises”?
But as soon as we don’t like the unexpected… what are they called? PROBLEMS.

And that’s okay. Though, sometimes we get drawn to the details of every single problem that arises, stealing our valuable focus from having the bigger picture in mind. So here’s a couple of ways to remember the bigger picture.

the 530,000 perspective

Let’s say we have $530,000 in our bank account right now. And we make a deal and find out we got ripped off $13, or that our transaction was not very friendly. Are we going to throw away the rest of our money simply because the deal didn’t go our way the way we wanted it exactly to?

Now, think about what we do with our time because there are about 530,000 minutes in a year. Are we going to spend most of our time on those “problems”? Are we really going to have the rest of a bad day because someone didn’t acknowledge our work, an issue that temporarily doesn’t have a solution arose, or simply because someone did not say hi? We can either dwell on the issues and hyper inflate them, or we can address the situation for what it is, and move on from there.

No need to dwell on problems that offer no benefits because our mental focus is valuable.

No need to throw away the rest of our valuable 530,000 total that we won’t get back.

the Cup perspective

And if this analogy isn’t your cup of tea, let’s imagine we have a tablespoon and a cup of hot water (for your ideal cup of tea…or coffee, lol). Mount some salt all over the tablespoon and then add that tablespoon full of salt into your mug of water. How is that water going to taste? SALTY right?

Now dip that mug into a lake of freshwater and bring it back out of the lake with water in it. How is that water going to taste? FRESH!

Similarly speaking, we can do this with a bad experience- the salty moments- and immerse it into a bigger environment of gratitude. We can remind ourselves what we are grateful for and let those salty moments dissolve into this vast environment of gratitude.Then we become more aware of the bigger lake involved. We’ll have the refreshed perspective that the bigger picture is still there.

These tools can be used in everyday conversations, and what they both have in common is the power of perspective.

Perspective is one of our greatest empowerment abilities. Perspective offers insight because there are so many angles and scopes to view the world from. Therefore, we can use perspective to view our problems from an angle that does not leave us blinded from the bigger picture we want to keep in mind and in our hearts. As Leaders, we must provide perspective in order to empower people facing problems whom are stuck worrying too much about things that steal their valuable time and energy. When we provide perspective to others, we contribute to making the world a better place as we strive to reduce unnecessary stress and maximize things that move us towards the shared objectives.

Plus, we create more leaders.

🔴 Be Empowered, my friends.