Perspective

Day 56. Perspective.

Back to Illusions: The Adventures of A Reluctant Messiah, by Richard Bach. On the first day Richard opens that small suede-bound book, it begins.

Perspective - Use It or Lose It. If you turned to this page, you're forgetting that what is going on around you is not reality. Think about that. Remember where you came from, where you're going, and why you created the mess you got yourself into in the first place.

Not words for the weak at heart. This is not just an ordinary ride we're on, it's a beast of our own creation.


We often forget that the choices we make come back full circle. It sometimes takes years for that to happen, but it always does. That guy you alienated in college: next thing you know, they're on the other side of the desk at a job interview that you need to ace. The girl you hated in high school: she's now marrying your ex and will help raise your kids on the weekends.

As much thought and consideration as we put into major decisions, many times it is just those little ones that bite us later. Forgetting to change the oil in the car means engine troubles down the road. Leaving the coffeepot on all day hopefully won't burn the house down, but at least costs you a new coffee pot. Little things we can all look back on and say "man, if I had only done this differently." Small things that grow bigger in the rear view mirror. Perspective.

I'd like to say I've learned not to make the same mistakes over and over. I wish that were true. I kick myself when I see something going off the rails, knowing I could have avoided the disaster if I'd just remembered the lesson. Looking at things from the 10,000 foot level is a business perspective we can use in many aspects of life: think about things as if you were way up high, watching them happen, able to pull the strings from afar. I know I'd handle some things differently if I could only remember to step back and think about them a bit.

Most mistakes we make aren't fatal. Most just inconvenience us temporarily, I think that's why we don't really learn from them. Not that I'm advocating for bigger penalties for them, but we should at least treat them as life-changing even when they're not. The problem looks bigger when it's right in front of us, so we should learn in the present instead of viewing it as part of the past. That perspective makes us seem bigger and the problem smaller, giving us that false security that we have survived it. Don't be fooled. You dug that hole, and you'll step in it again.

Lesson Fifty Six: Do you confront your past and try to avoid making the same mistakes? Have you ever thought to yourself "not this shit again?" Think about the view as someone outside the situation, and use that perspective to kick yourself in advance for letting it happen. Again.

684 to go...