The Power of Perspective

I have been called Pollyanna. The people who made this comment may not have meant it as a compliment, but I certainly take it as one.

Steve informs me that the British contingent may not have been exposed to Disney's Pollyanna. Pollyanna was a movie in which the lead character always tried to keep a positive attitude and find the good in the situations she found herself in no matter what other people around her thought or said - she called it the 'Glad Game'. She kept her 'positivity' through all sorts of challenging situations and made an impact on those around her, she transformed them - to the extent that when she lost the use of her legs and finally lost her positive perspective, they helped her to recover, both physically and mentally using the same approach. Although the terms pollyannaish and pollyannaism are often used as derrogatory terms when referring to others, what the words really mean is "someone who is cheerfully optimistic and who always maintains a generous attitude toward the motives of other people" (Wikipedia).

As a business leader, we found our attitudes and perspective had a huge impact on others. In big transformation programmes, we couldn't afford to have a bad day because it affected the perspectives of those around us. In what we do now, perspective also makes a huge difference. One of Steve's favourite sayings is, "The difference between an adventure and ordeal is attitude."

Our perspective affects us and it also really affects those around us. Have you ever noticed how you feel after hanging around someone who gripes, moans and picks out the worst in everything? I feel completely exhausted, and I don't want to spend very much time with that person. Some people have made glooming and dooming a habit (and aren't they having a good time in this economy?!). All they talk about, all they think about is how bad it all is, how terrible. They can look at the most beautiful painting and will pick out only the errors. They can be in the middle of the best experience and will focus in on only what isn't exactly right.

Other people choose the opposite perspective, keeping positive and looking for what's going right rather than what's going wrong. They will find good things or good learnings out of the worst experiences. They look at every situation and ask themselves, "What is the good in this?" Sometimes there's a lot of good, when you look for it. Sometimes the good isn't in the situation, but in the lesson(s) you learn. And what a lot of energy they have! Have you ever been around a really positive person and felt your energy change because of them?

Perspective is habit forming, whether good or bad. Have you ever listened to a group of people in the office have a good old gripe and then noticed that they gripe about the same things the next day and the next? Boring! They cannot seem to talk about anything in a different way. It's a habit and they're stuck in it. Listen to yourself talking, is the majority of your speech complaining, fault-finding, picking out the negatives? Or do you find yourself discussing how something is great or how it can be fixed or trying to get the negative people to look at things in a more positive way? Either a negative or a positive perspective is habit forming.

Which perspective brings more energy into the room (and which person has more energy within themselves)?

I remember one of the most powerful books I ever read, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. He chose to find the good, the positive in one of the worst possible experiences, a WWII concentration camp. This book taught me so much, but most of all that if Frankl could find goodness in his experience, I could certainly find good in mine.

Perspective is a choice and a habit. In your search for and journey to your dream lifestyle, perspective will have a huge impact on your experience - and your progress! Perspective can be positive or negative, whichever you choose your experience will match. Pollyanna has a point!