Today’s business environments are so complex, fast moving and many-times chaotic. Leaders find themselves drinking from the fire hose far too often. It’s just a fact of leadership in an everchanging and evolving business world.
So many times you are getting hit with a lot of information, challenges, personalities and politics that you can’t see the forest for the trees and as your day and week progress you can lose perspective. This is especially true for people who have to lead and navigate change!
For some, it can be a non-stop battle to not become consumed by all the noise and fall victim to self-doubt and overwhelming feelings.
In my coaching practice I have seen so many caring and dedicated leaders lose all sense of perspective. They are dealing with so many challenges already and then some have to work in an unhealthy environment, making a tough situation overwhelming.
So many leaders lose perspective because a difficult co-worker and/or culture makes them feel constantly under attack. It becomes particularly easy to fall prey to the victim mentality.
You become so bitter and obsessed with perceived or real attacks on you, that you lose all perspective and suddenly start doubting your abilities, even when you have been successful many times in previous roles. Paranoia takes over and you become your own worst enemy.
Many leaders have times like these where positive perspective becomes really hard to come by and it seems that your surroundings and situation won’t allow you to have a good perspective.
But it’s so important that leaders take a proactive approach to maintaining positive perspective.
Why it’s So Important to Refresh Your Perspective
When You Lose Perspective it Affects Your Work Performance in a Multitude of Ways:
- You start to take things more personally
- It makes you start to question yourself and lower your confidence
- It affects your ability to make rational and reasonable decisions, hurting your performance
- It affects your relationships with your team, associates and boss
It Also Affects Your Home Life:
- You bring your poor perspective home with you and you can’t shut off your work brain
- It affects how you connect with your family – you aren’t as present and social
- It affects your mental and physical health, your overall well-being
How to Bring Back a Positive Perspective:
- Control What You Can Control and Let the Rest Go:
- Too many times leaders set their expectations too high on what they think they should be able to control. They might be perfectionists who can never be happy until something is done perfectly in their mind. This desire to control all things is an unrealistic perspective that will just lead to constant frustration.
- Framing:
- How you frame/label experiences is as important as how you respond. Don’t consistently frame situations or people as positive or negative, but rather allow them to come and to go as an expected part of the work day. Especially when you are leading change!
- Mantras:
- Although some people consider mantra’s cheesy, there is a reason people use them. They are reminding themselves of positive aspects about themselves and their life, so they don’t let negative internal and external sources consume them.
- Reminders:
- You can’t take it personally. You need to be Teflon where nothing sticks to you.
- If you have a toxic/insecure co-worker, it’s their problem, not yours. Have empathy for their issues and insecurities but don’t let their negative energy sap your energy.
- This too shall pass! It’s part of your journey and things will eventually change.
- Gratitude:
- Negative thoughts accumulate and you lose perspective. They build on each other and become all-consuming. You need to counterbalance them by intentionally focusing on positive gratitude.
- Quiet Time:
- When you lose perspective, your mind is usually racing. You need to give yourself quiet-centering moments through the day to quiet your mind and bring it back to equilibrium. Schedule quiet time into your schedule. Don’t look at quieting your mind as a nice-to-have and an after-thought. It’s imperative.
- Positive Socialization/Support:
- When you deal with a toxic culture and possibly toxic people all day at work, it can really jade your views on the human race. But if you regularly participate in positive clubs, support groups, teams, etc. that build you up, it can bring your perspective back into balance.
- Help Others:
- Doing some kind of volunteer work where your focus is on serving and supporting others with particular challenges can bring your more fortunate life into focus really quick. It also helps you take your mind off of you.
Keeping Perspective Is Intentional
This leads me to my last thought on perspective. I was prone to losing perspective and it was a struggle for me. I would think, hey I am a decent guy. Why is this situation happening to me and/or why are these insecure co-workers making my life miserable?
The fact of the matter is, there will always be challenging situations and people in your work and home life. You cannot wait for the world to finally see the light and make your life all puppies and rainbows.
There is a common misconception that having a good perspective is solely based on having all the right conditions in your life. Not true.
How many times have you seen someone who has had a really tough life somehow be a constant, positive force for others? And conversely, how many times have you been around someone who’s been had a lot of good fortune look at everything with a poor perspective?
You have to build resiliency and take accountability for keeping a good perspective. Not all people come by it naturally. I know many positive and life affirming people who tell me they had to work at it until it became second nature.
They ‘faked it to make it’ and it became part of them. I am an example of that. I had to work at it but it became easier and easier. It can for you too!
Stay Calm and Lead On
