Taking a new Perspective

Posted on June 12, 2022 by Shawn Yates, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

If you have ever been stuck at a place in your life, I am sure that some helpful friends suggested that you get a different perspective. It is indeed true that taking a taking a new perspective can really help you get unstuck and start moving forward. But if you knew how to get a different perspective, you would probably have done it already and not be stuck. So, while that advice is certainly meant to be helpful, is probably just frustrating.

This is one of the great tools in the coaching toolbelt when you are stuck – helping you get a new perspective on the situation. Luckily, as a coach I will do more than just tell you to get a new perspective. Together we will explore new possible perspectives to give you a choice of how you want to view the challenge. We will go though these 4 steps for 3-4 perspectives so you can CHOOSE which one you want to adopt:

1. Identify a perspective
2. Embody the perspective
3. Extract traits
4. Use the lens of the perspective

Identify a perspective

We can pick almost anything to inspire the perspective. It could be inspired by something in your room, a part of our conversation or just a random idea. Oddly enough, it doesn’t matter what we use as the initial inspiration or name of the perspective. The idea is to pick something that really allows you to unlock new, creative, and original ways of thinking.

Embody the perspective

Next, we stand up and associate the perspective with a pose or movement. I know this sounds weird, but there is a ton of science behind this. By activating your muscles, we are activating larger portions of your brain. With this extra activation in the brain, we are opening more mental resources to evaluate the problem and envision possibilities. In addition, by associating the perspective with a motion or pose, we are strengthening our memory of the perspective and the associated possibilities.

Extract the traits

With the perspective named and embodied, its time to explore the traits of the perspective. What are the physical characteristics? What ideas, thoughts and emotions are associated with the perspective? How does it interact with the world around it? The idea is to understand what the perspective represents and unlocks for you to consider and think about.

Use the lens of the perspective

Finally, we use the traits of the perspective to look at the situation we stared with. What new ideas, interpretations and possibilities come up when you use this perspective? What parts of the perspective resonate with you, which parts fall flat?

What will you choose?

This all goes quickly – we can go through the steps for 3-4 perspectives in about 15-20 minutes. You have 3-4 perspectives to choose from. We will quickly review the options using the pose or motion to recall each one. Then the power is in your hands. Which perspective would serve you best for the challenge at hand? Will you choose to adopt a new perspective?

There you have it! Finding and choosing a new perspective to take a great first step to overcoming the problem and getting unstuck. With a new perspective in mind, what does that mean you will say yes to? What does it mean you will say no to? What action will you take as a result? How will you commit and move forward?