(c) 2007, Andrea M. Hill
Trying to change perspectives holds promise for anyone feeling unchallenged or unsatisfied in their present work.
Fun House Mirrors
Originally Published: 17 September 2007
Last Updated: 30 October 2020
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One of the weird aspects of preparing to sell my home and buy a new one is the feeling of living in something I will soon abandon. Our dinner conversation revolves around the houses we’ve seen. Will we choose the 28 acres, the one with the pool, the farm with a guest suite over a renovated barn that our children are already quibbling over? The conversation bubbles and rushes then, inevitably, ebbs. We always end up remembering that we have to give up this house. And we love this house.
I’m concerned I might forget a detail or miss an angle or a view I didn’t see before. So I perch in chairs I don’t normally frequent, I hang out on a different kitchen counter, or I drink my morning coffee on the play gym at the very back of our yard. Every time I change my viewpoint, I learn something new about this home that I’ve lived in all these years.
Sometimes the things I learn are unpleasant, such as when I discovered the crack at the back of our track lighting. Other times I see where a chair should have been, or come across a lovely unnoticed detail. Consciously changing my perspective has given me an entirely new house. I hope I remember to live in the next house – from the first day – the way I am now learning to live in this house.
I like this perspective gathering, so I’m giving my work a dose of it. Sometimes I need help. My five-year-old can’t read, but she told me which letterhead she liked best and why. I read proposals from the recipient’s perspective. I judge my speeches based on whether or not my 15-year-old son stays awake. I told a writer friend about this new compulsion, and she wrote her next article from a different perspective, leading her to an entirely surprising result. If I can’t achieve an alternate perspective, I do something else, such as roll my chair around to the front of my desk, or go work on the neglected bench in our herb garden (accomplishing two perspective efforts simultaneously). Could you use someone else’s technique – even one you might think is inferior? Argue someone else’s side? Find every flaw in your favorite project? Put your file drawer in reverse alphabetical order?
Choosing a different mental perspective is definitely more difficult than trying a different physical viewpoint. I found it deeply frustrating at first and only continued out of stubbornness and an intuition that the payoff might be rewarding. It is. I get such a kick out of realizing something new about a topic I thought I understood so well.
This practice holds promise for anyone feeling unchallenged or unsatisfied in their present work. We can break free of a rut, reinvigorate a talent, or just find out what they do in that other part of the building. Trying to see things differently can give us back the manager we used to get along with so well, the co-worker we once thought understood us. What the heck – it even lets you keep your same old, comfortable husband and still date that dreamy hunk – without having to go to confession afterwards.
Do you recall those bracing early days of your career when you were constantly challenged, before you knew so much? You can reclaim that energy at any time. And do you know that overused and misinterpreted word, empowerment? Here we have its proper meaning.