How to Reframe Bad Experiences
The right perspective can move mountains, but the wrong perspective is the killer of dreams. It is very important to consider your point of view and its impact on your success. These days I choose to view my life as one that is full of infinite possibilities, choices and opportunities just waiting for me to discover. But it wasn’t always that way. Like everyone else, I have had my share of challenges in life, and bad times can cloud the lens through which we view our world.
It was only when I started to question my perspective and become curious about how my world would look through different mental lenses that things started to change for me. Today I have the privilege of travelling to many different countries in my career as a professional speaker to give insight as a business strategist and leadership expert to a very diversified group of audiences.
I am philosophically opposed to canned presentations, so each time I step onto the stage, my speech is new, geared specifically to the audience in attendance, even though there are common themes like business strategy and leadership. But one of the things I realize when people come up to me afterwards is that the most important thing, regardless of the topic, is to encourage my audience to examine their perspective which means it is imperative I understand their problems, consider their wants and connect with their needs.
Perspective is a blend of our life experiences and cultural backgrounds that put those things that our eyes see into some kind of order and pattern in our brains. If we allow ourselves to sink into a routine perspective, no matter what we see will fail to ignite our sense of wonder because we will translate what is new into old, familiar patterns and fall into a mundane view of the world. But if I can find a way to motivate each individual and each organization I work with to reframe their perspective and see things as fresh and new, then I can create real change.
That is because so much of our perspective is framed by our past bad experiences in life. In an effort to avoid being hurt or failing again, we skirt around new things carefully, like standing on the edge of a deep pond that we know has great mysteries, but being too afraid to explore it for fear we will drown.
When you reframe your perspective by using positive past experiences instead of negative ones, your whole world suddenly looks different. You feel motivated and excited and even inspired. Everywhere you look there is something new and fascinating to absorb and study further. Your experience a tremendous surge of inspiration as door after door opens to new possibilities. You believe that you can move mountains. What looked like a problem yesterday looks easy to solve today.
At every stage of our lives, with great regularity, we all need to examine our point of view and question whether our lens on life has become cloudy or embittered or doubtful. You will never go wrong by considering if there is a different way to look at a situation or problem you are trying to solve.
That is what perspective is all about. It is a willingness to shift your thoughts in order to see the possibilities visible from a different point of view. It is the motivation to seek a better solution and to make sense out of what puzzles us.
Paula Morand, CSP is a leadership building, revenue boosting, strategy expanding keynote speaker, author and visionary. This dreaming big and being bold expert brings her vibrant energy, humor and wisdom to ignite individuals, organizations and communities to lead change, growth and bold impact. 23 years, 25,000 clients, 19 countries, 11 books, former radio personality, 10x award winning entrepreneur and humorous emcee.
To check out Paula’s newest book, “Bold Courage: How Owning Your Awesome Changes Everything” go to Amazon http://ow.ly/i8yW307ix67
To book Paula to speak email bookings@paulamorand.com or call toll-free 1-888-502-6317.