Perspective

What is Perspective?

Perspective is the way you look at things.

A point of view.

One of many…

on an-y-thing!

Try to keep it mind, that your personal view can never be completely copied by another because they are simply just not you. And that is special, but no more special than the person next to you with their own view.

Perspective is our ability to look at life, experiences, problems and relationships through a particular lens and following a specific set of criteria.

Whilst I am not personally religious, I do think that the Golden rule of “treat others how you would like to be treated” is a good starting point, but when we’re talking about perspective? It’s not enough!

Instead I propose what I call…

The Platinum Rule

Treat others how THEY would like to be treated.

As you can probably guess, without an ability to empathize and a willingness to attempt to understand how someone from a completely different culture might wish to be treated, you’re never going to be able to achieve a perspective that will allow you to fully connect, engage and treat with respect, those you meet on your travels.

For example:

Let’s say I bought a beer in Melbourne and it cost me $10. My perspective on this is that is a reasonable, standard price for a drink in Melbourne. However, If I were someone traveling from Vietnam to Australia, that would seem to be an extraordinarily expensive beer. On the other hand, if I were from Norway, or Iceland, that beer would seem relatively cheap.

What’s important to take away from this example is not that beer is relatively expensive or cheap, but that, by retaining perspective, you can manage your emotions and CHOOSE to engage with things from a negative or positive position.

Perspective helps us to navigate the globe using our financial, ethical and moral compasses more effectively. It is a critical component for dealing with disappointments and difficulties.

So how do you gain better perspective or manage the ones you have against confronting experiences on the road?

Try some of these suggestions:

Read Fiction… learn to empathize.

Research shows that people who read fiction tend to be more empathetic, so there’s a lot more advantage to be found in a good book than just a great story.

Your ability to empathize is a critical component of perspective and is what allows you to see others points of view, which in turn gives you a fresh take on your own perspectives.

Meet locals.

Listen to them. Learn from them. Give back to them however you can.

Try to see things from the local’s perspective. Then you can try to know them and gather a new point of view.

Every point of view you can gather is a different perspective.

The more perspectives and knowledge you can gather, the clearer your view of the world and how to negotiate it effortlessly, managing the pursuits of daily life.

Be willing to be proven wrong.

We are often so caught up in our desire to be right that we forget what’s really important… doing right!

Being right and doing right are very different things and it’s much easier to say you are right than consistently live up to your own morals regardless of what gets thrown at you on the road.

Additionally, it’s always important to consider others’ perspectives and include them in decision making when trying to decide on the pathway forwards that you’ll forge.

Challenge: Don’t haggle over nothing.

The number of times I’ve seen a rich white man get all worked up over a measly $1 or 2 is amazing. I even once saw a gentleman scream at his waitress over the 50c corkage charge at the restaurant… If this has (or ever is) you, then I challenge you to ask yourself: “is this tiny amount of money really worth my time, stress and frustration?”

If it’s $5 or less that your simpering over, let it go. The angst is not worth that price tag, or the time lost in either getting what you want or obsessing over what you lost.