Perception
is perhaps the single greatest cause of arguments in the world. People argue,
get frustrated and mad, and then discover that this all could have been avoided
if they could have see the other persons side of things. Humans have a natural
sense of selfishness, one that focuses only on themselves, and rarely on
others.
Almost
everything we do is motivated by our selfish needs. What usually seems like a
good idea, can in retrospect be examined and seen as an extremely bias or
self-centered idea. Try this today. When you act a certain way with someone or
do something a certain way, ask yourself why you performed that action that
way. What results may surprise you. However, in order for this thought
experiment to be successful, you must be completely honest with yourself,
which, can be excruciatingly difficult at times.
Perception
is the cause of another foul habit. Laziness. We don't perform certain tasks
because we perceive these tasks as taking up too much effort or we think that
it isn't worth it, when it is actually very much worth it. Perception can be a
very great enemy.
So how do we
combat it? Easy. We evaluate our perspective. Why are we looking at some action
in a certain way? What previous experiences lead us to expect something from
this perspective? Evaluation of our perspective can be something that can be
very enlightening, and can lead us to paradigm shifts. Ideas can pop into our
head because we challenge our perspective.
Also, when
we challenge our perspective, we learn what makes us, us. We discover the
reason behind we do the things that we do and we can either fix it, or build on
it. If the reason we do things do not line up correctly with our priorities,
then we need to fix them, obviously.
So, your
perspective is a powerful thing. It can literally affect your life every single
day. It is one of the strongest motivators we have. It can affect your and many
lives around you, so it is important to have a correct perspective.
Today, I
challenge you to challenge your own perspective. Take what you know and
evaluate it and then evaluate it some more. It can change your life.
