Change Your Lens for More Insight
Several weeks ago, my wife and I were looking at potentially replacing her SUV with a new car so we did some research on the internet and found a car she liked. For the next few days, it seemed like every where we drove, we saw the car that she had picked out. It was all over the place and in many different colors. The funny thing is that I do not remember ever seeing that car on the road prior to her picking it out.
I found this fascinating so I went home and tried another experiment. I sat out on our patio and watched the birds fly in and out of our bird feeders, like I do frequently. This time, however, instead of casually watching, I intently watched every detail of the birds motions, how they ate, how they interacted and where they flew away to. It was amazing! It was this whole new world that was right in front of me all of this time and I hadn't spent any time focusing on what was really going on.
I then realized that I do this a lot in business and life. I'm missing a lot of what is going on around me because I'm either not paying attention or not looking at it with the right "lens." Their are several lenses that I think, unfortunately, come naturally to us. They are the negativity lens and the blurry lens.
Negativity Lens - I believe that most people live their daily lives with this lens on. It seems to be natural for people to see only the negative things that occur during the day.
I could go on and on and on. If you think I'm exaggerating, spend an hour at work listening intently to colleagues and keep a mental count on the positive vs. negative comments. Also, go out on Facebook (if you have an account) and look at people's status updates. My unscientific sample puts the negative to positive comment ratio at about 9 to 1. It's no wonder people are unhappy or unsatisfied if this is the typical lens they view their world through.
From the business side, I also think we spend too much of our time and energy on problems and what is wrong and not enough time talking about and celebrating what is right and good in the company.
Blurry Lens - This ties back to watching the birds on my patio. My lens was clear enough to see, in general, what the birds were doing but I wasn't seeing any of the details. It's not that I couldn't see the details, I was simply choosing not to. Either I didn't want to expend the energy or I just wasn't interested in what was going on.
Think about the interactions you have at the office or with family and friends. How much time do we focus on the obvious like what is said or done. How little time do we spend on the subtleties of how things are said, the body language, the facial expressions, who is in the room, what is in the room, and people's past history with each other. If we only focus on the obvious, we miss most of what is really going on.
There is a scene in one of the Bourne spy movies starring Matt Damon where he is in a public place with another person and he proceeds to give, in incredible detail, descriptions of everyone in the room, why he thinks they are there, could they be a threat, what people are talking about, where's the closest exit, etc. These types of agents are trained to take in everything in their immediate surroundings because their life depends on it. I definitely think there are things we can learn from this example.
From the business perspective, think about your people, business processes and activities and really focus hard on the details to see what you may be missing. The current TV show, "Undercover Boss" highlights this. Executives go undercover to see what's really going in their businesses.
They think they know what's going on but when they become a front line employee for a week, they see all of the things they've been missing. The bosses usually come back to the corporate office with new ideas to implement that will address the issues or challenges they experienced on the front line. They would never have come up with or implemented these new ideas had they not seen the details.
My Challenges For You
Try the Positive Lens - Get up one morning and commit to intentionally viewing your world only through a positive lens. Try it for an entire day. See all the things that are positive and good in your life, in your environment and in the people you interact with. There is good in everything! Fight off the urge to be negative. Just try it! Once you do, please report back to me the results. Did you find yourself in a better mood? smiling more often? more productive? better discussions?
Please let me know!
Clean off the Blurry Lens - Much like with the positive lens, get up one day and intentionally plan to absorb all of the details of your environment, the things you do and the interactions you have with others. When you are intentionally seeing and absorbing all the details, you realize there is a whole other world of things going on that you've been missing. Please report back on this one as well.
If we change our lenses to ones that are positive and crystal clear, I believe we can also change our attitudes. If we are able to change our attitudes, we are more able to see all of our blessings, in great detail, and be thankful for them.
Doesn't that sound like a better approach than blurry and negative?
Please share your thoughts and comments on this topic. I'd love to hear from you. You can also check out my website at www.derrickstrand.com or email me at dstrand@derrickstrand.com . Also, connect with me at the following social media links:
I found this fascinating so I went home and tried another experiment. I sat out on our patio and watched the birds fly in and out of our bird feeders, like I do frequently. This time, however, instead of casually watching, I intently watched every detail of the birds motions, how they ate, how they interacted and where they flew away to. It was amazing! It was this whole new world that was right in front of me all of this time and I hadn't spent any time focusing on what was really going on.
I then realized that I do this a lot in business and life. I'm missing a lot of what is going on around me because I'm either not paying attention or not looking at it with the right "lens." Their are several lenses that I think, unfortunately, come naturally to us. They are the negativity lens and the blurry lens.
Negativity Lens - I believe that most people live their daily lives with this lens on. It seems to be natural for people to see only the negative things that occur during the day.
- I can't catch a green light.
- This traffic is horrible.
- Somebody took the last cup of coffee and didn't make more!
- Whooa! Look at Bill's comb over! His part is almost down to his ear!
- This meeting is so boring. No agenda and no focus.
- I hate being on this team, no one else does any work but me!
- Did you see Sheila's toes........nasty!
I could go on and on and on. If you think I'm exaggerating, spend an hour at work listening intently to colleagues and keep a mental count on the positive vs. negative comments. Also, go out on Facebook (if you have an account) and look at people's status updates. My unscientific sample puts the negative to positive comment ratio at about 9 to 1. It's no wonder people are unhappy or unsatisfied if this is the typical lens they view their world through.
From the business side, I also think we spend too much of our time and energy on problems and what is wrong and not enough time talking about and celebrating what is right and good in the company.
Blurry Lens - This ties back to watching the birds on my patio. My lens was clear enough to see, in general, what the birds were doing but I wasn't seeing any of the details. It's not that I couldn't see the details, I was simply choosing not to. Either I didn't want to expend the energy or I just wasn't interested in what was going on.
Think about the interactions you have at the office or with family and friends. How much time do we focus on the obvious like what is said or done. How little time do we spend on the subtleties of how things are said, the body language, the facial expressions, who is in the room, what is in the room, and people's past history with each other. If we only focus on the obvious, we miss most of what is really going on.
There is a scene in one of the Bourne spy movies starring Matt Damon where he is in a public place with another person and he proceeds to give, in incredible detail, descriptions of everyone in the room, why he thinks they are there, could they be a threat, what people are talking about, where's the closest exit, etc. These types of agents are trained to take in everything in their immediate surroundings because their life depends on it. I definitely think there are things we can learn from this example.
From the business perspective, think about your people, business processes and activities and really focus hard on the details to see what you may be missing. The current TV show, "Undercover Boss" highlights this. Executives go undercover to see what's really going in their businesses.
They think they know what's going on but when they become a front line employee for a week, they see all of the things they've been missing. The bosses usually come back to the corporate office with new ideas to implement that will address the issues or challenges they experienced on the front line. They would never have come up with or implemented these new ideas had they not seen the details.
My Challenges For You
Try the Positive Lens - Get up one morning and commit to intentionally viewing your world only through a positive lens. Try it for an entire day. See all the things that are positive and good in your life, in your environment and in the people you interact with. There is good in everything! Fight off the urge to be negative. Just try it! Once you do, please report back to me the results. Did you find yourself in a better mood? smiling more often? more productive? better discussions?
Please let me know!
Clean off the Blurry Lens - Much like with the positive lens, get up one day and intentionally plan to absorb all of the details of your environment, the things you do and the interactions you have with others. When you are intentionally seeing and absorbing all the details, you realize there is a whole other world of things going on that you've been missing. Please report back on this one as well.
If we change our lenses to ones that are positive and crystal clear, I believe we can also change our attitudes. If we are able to change our attitudes, we are more able to see all of our blessings, in great detail, and be thankful for them.
Doesn't that sound like a better approach than blurry and negative?
Please share your thoughts and comments on this topic. I'd love to hear from you. You can also check out my website at www.derrickstrand.com or email me at dstrand@derrickstrand.com . Also, connect with me at the following social media links:
Posted by Derrick Strand at 8/20/2010 7:16 AM 
Categories: Leadership, Process Improvement, People, Innovation, Management, Creativity
Tags: Leadership Process Improvement People Innovation Management Creativity
Categories: Leadership, Process Improvement, People, Innovation, Management, Creativity
Tags: Leadership Process Improvement People Innovation Management Creativity
You are spot on with this post, Derrick! And, I thought I would let you know that I just went and posted a positive facebook status update on my personal account to spread some positivity
Thanks for the great words, as always. Very inspiring and much needed today.
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Good post! thank you
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