When you are staring at a problem, or have an issue that plagues you and you start to feel overwhelmed perhaps it is time to change your view. Let me use an example. You walk into a room and in that room is a giant dragon staring down at you, it is ugly, ferocious and overwhelming. You feel suddenly like a small mouse about ready to be eaten alive. Then you try to skirt to the side in a last ditch effort to save your life and then you notice that the dragon is really just a large giant cardboard cutout. That perspective change completely reverses your opinion of the situation. You are now suddenly in charge again.
That is exactly what you need to do the moment you feel that something is in your way that is overwhelming you. You are cowering in your corners, feeling petrified with fear or loathing and about ready to just give up. When you have that feeling, that is exactly when you need to change your view of the situation. You need to look at the problem from a different perspective. I will grant you, that you may look at the problem from a variety of perspectives and realize that, yes indeed, you are completely screwed. However, before you reach that conclusion you do need to change your view.
I have yet to find myself, ever completely screwed. I have only found that I was looking at it the wrong way. So you must look at your problem differently, through a new lens if you will. That way, you will really know the scope and breadth of the problem in front of you. Now, you may ask the next obvious question – how do I change my view?
A good one, that works for me, is to ask another person what their view is. When you present the problem to them, they will automatically see it from a new perspective. That can help. I have also given in to asking the monster directly where I can as well! Sometimes the monster is embodied in another person. A competitor, an enemy, a person who sees things differently then I. When I ask for their perspective, I am often times shocked at the result. Sometimes I like to just change my environment. By experiencing or doing different things for a while, new ideas and thoughts will come into my head and I will have a different understanding of my problem.
The point is that we should not accept a problem as overwhelming to us until after we have changed our view a few times.
Guy Reams
