Perspective Matters!

Hold your hand up, palm forward. Now turn it to the side.  Same hand, but it looks entirely different. The difference, as you know,  is perspective. Before reading the funny story below, let me say a bit more about perspective.

Successful people learn to switch their perspective to keep their energy high. If you tell yourself that “Business is terrible”,  or that “No one cares about me”, you’re not going to have much energy. But if you tell yourself, “Business is  recovering” and that “Many people value me”,  not only will you feel more like taking your life/business on, but brain science tells us, you’ll be changing your future.

We now have solid scientific studies that prove the fact that “Neurons that fire together, wire together”.  What this means is that the more you repeat a thought or action, the stronger the neurological patterns become  and the more easily that thought or action can recur.

That’s what makes it so difficult to change our perspective sometimes–the pathways are so well trodden, we can slip into them easily. Developing new ones may feel like a slog at first, but it’s worth it for our thoughts shape our actions and our actions shape our future.

Here’s the fun story:

Bill was working on his family genealogy and found out his great-great uncle, Remus Starr was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. He even found a photo of  Remus, showing him standing on the gallows. On the back of the picture were the words:

“Remus Starr–Horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison, 1885. Escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged, 1889.”

Bill decided to revise things a bit. He cropped the picture into a head shot, then he rewrote the text:

“Remus Starr was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include the acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and included intimate dealings with the Montana railroad. Beginning in 1885, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility, finally taking a key role in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency, In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed.”

Now that’s a change in perspective! (Maybe Bill should consider a job in gov’t public relations!)