Enjoy More Success with These Powerful Perspectives

Perspectives are powerful! While quietly operating in the background, they play a major role in how you experience and respond to the world!

What is Perspective?

Perspective is the lens with which you view everything and it influences the meaning you make. It’s your way of thinking about and understanding a topic like success, life, work, and more.

Your perspective plays a powerful role in how you feel, your choices, the actions you take, and how you interact with the world.

A Parable on Perspective

Reading is a favorite past time in our family for kids and grown-ups alike! Nothing better than snuggling up with one or more of my grandkids and reading them a story!

When I think about perspective, the children’s book Seven Blind Mice comes to mind. It illustrates so very well how perspective makes a powerful difference.

The gist of the story is that seven blind mice bump into a strange something. After each of the mice have an encounter the strange something here’s what each of the seven mice determined it to be:

• Red Mouse’s perspective: a pillar
• Green Mouse’s perspective: a snake
• Yellow Mouse’s perspective: a spear
• Purple Mouse’s perspective: a great cliff
• Orange Mouse’s perspective: a fan
• Blue Mouse’s perspective: a rope
• White Mouse’s perspective: an elephant

You see, the first six mice to visit the strange something only noticed a part of the greater whole. Believing that the object was a pillar, snake, or a rope would translate into them interacting with the object in very different ways!

The White Mouse, on the other hand, was the only one to run up one side and down the other to explore the strange something from end to end – the whole! In other words, in exploring the leg, the trunk, the tusk, the head, and the ear, he arrived at a very different conclusion. And his perspective was more accurate!

Perspectives Color Everything!

As you and I do life, work, and pursue goals, we too have perspectives that color how we perceive our situations. How we perceive what’s in front of us as impacts our choices and the ways we respond.

Maybe you haven’t given it much thought, yet even your perspective on success influences your success!

Is success something BIG, something that is for everyone out there, but out of reach for you? Or is success something that is possible for everyone…including you? If you were to close your eyes and imagine yourself a wild success, what picture does your imagination conjure up?

How do you define success? Your perspective on what success plays a role in the success you enjoy. It’s oh so subtle, but oh so powerful!

What’s contributed to your perspective on success? Has it been shaped by family members, friends, media, or the pictures of success that the world points to? Perspectives are contagious!

Your Perspective on Change

In order to achieve greater success, it may be necessary to shift some of your perspectives. However, your perspective on change dictates whether or not that shift happens. If you view change as something positive and an opportunity to learn and grow those shifts are likely to take place. But if you view change as a negative or a threat you will naturally resist change.

Making The Shift

There are numerous perspectives at play as you navigate life and work every day! With very little hype or notice they are actively influencing all that you do!

The first step in shifting to powerful perspectives that serve you well is to become more mindful of what your current perspectives are. With that awareness, you are then able to intentionally choose new perspectives – perspectives that will color your feelings, choices, actions, and ways of interacting in more beneficial ways.

Wondering what some of those “powerful perspectives” might be? Here are a few worth considering:

1. I Am Loved

More than anything, as humans we crave love! We want to be treasured, accepted, and seen as valuable. Those desires often propel us into a frenzy of activity as we set out to prove how lovable we are or to earn the love or favor of those around us. Sadly, that frenzy frequently backfires, reinforcing the fear that we are not lovable.  And that perspective is a real dream killer!

The truth is that you are loved – God loves you deeply, so dwell on that truth. Own it. Behave like you are the apple of the Father’s eye! Remind yourself daily because that perspective is wildly powerful.

When you let go of the outcome and trust the God who loves you, He’s able to work on your behalf in some pretty exciting ways!

2. God Has A Plan

God wired you a specific way for a unique purpose. That doesn’t mean that you have a narrow target you are trying to hit, a single task that if not executed correctly will result in failure. No, God simply desires for you to reflect Him in your unique way, follow His lead day by day, and steward your personality, gifts, strengths, and skills to the best of your ability as you pursue life, work, and the passions He’s placed in your heart.

God truly values you and your success is in His hands. Your role is being diligent and faithful with what He’s put before you. To rely on Him rather than wearing yourself out trying to make it all happen. Consistently seeking Him for help and trusting Him to show you better and smarter ways of accomplishing what needs to be done. Gladly surrendering your business, work, ministry, team, or children – basically everything to Him, knowing His plans are good!

3. Challenges, Obstacles, & Problems Are Opportunities!

When challenges, obstacles or problems pop up that deep down gut feeling exposes your perspective. Does your heart sink because you see them as walls hindering your success? Or do you view them as invitations to get crazy creative?

They say that what you focus on grows and my experience tells me that’s true! The more I dwell on the bigness of the hurdles in front of me, the more daunting they become.

On the other hand, when I look at the challenges in front of me as opportunities to get innovative and resourceful the possibilities open up in brilliant ways. In fact, my best ideas often surface in response to a challenge that’s cropped up!

If you believe that the world is against you and your present problems are confirmation of that, you will find evidence to confirm that.

Those same problems take on a very different meaning when you are focused on the possibilities. You may even see them as your loving heavenly Father gently redirecting you to something even better!

What if challenges, obstacles, & problems are actually doors, rather than walls?

4. Abundance – There’s More Than Enough

When your perspective is that there is not enough to go around, it alters the way you go about life. It might lead to feelings of desperation and the need to hurry as you set out to grab what you can. Or perceived scarcity might cause you to stop trying. Either way, that kind of perspective rarely yields positive results!

However, when you are confident that there is more than enough money, clients, friends, opportunities, etc. for you and everyone else, your frame of mind is quite different! And that tiny tweak has far reaching effects!

5. Failure is Growing!

If your perspective is that failing is bad and to be avoided at all costs your pursuits will be limited. But what if your focus was on growing and that you viewed risks as worth taking even if it meant failure because those experiences would be powerful learning opportunities? Imagine what might be possible for you then!

6. Less Is More!

In hopes of greater success, the temptation is to do more and more and more! And do it with more gusto! In reality, success is about zeroing in on the best actions to take and doing those few tasks well, it’s not about doing more.

What would it look like if you narrowed your focus and did less? How might that lead to greater success?

Perspectives are powerful so why not embrace perspectives that pave the way to greater success?

How have your perspectives helped or hindered you? What perspective would you add to my list?

This post was originally posted on 10/17/17 and has been updated and revised just for you!