On February 26, an image of a dress showed at a Tumblr page, for which people were arguing whether it has a black and a blue color, or a white and a yellow color. A lot of people started to give their opinion based on their look and say which type of color they saw, and found it a bit weird that their opinion was not the same as the opinion of other people. I was curious to see this image and, because I am a bit biased, I tend to view things from different points of view that are mostly related with extracting the benefits from them. As a result I decided to write this article about the lessons that we can get from this dress that got a lot of attention recently.
There may be more benefits that could be gained through these type of argumentations, but I would like to focus more on this summarization: Different perspectives can exist for the same thing and each of them can be correct; try to give things a meaning and an interpretation that would benefit you the most. This could be thought as a conclusive explanation, but I like giving examples because I want to make it clearer for me and you, as it increases the levels of understanding. As one of my university professor said, “If you are not able to give an example, you are not still understanding it.” In this article you can find a few applications of this type of viewing things from different angles that might not be the best ones, but can be as a means of giving you an initial idea of this type of approach.
Investing. Let’s suppose that you are the CEO of a company and your manager lost 5000 dollars in a project. Instead of shouting and blaming them, try to view this type of failure from a different angle. What if you could be seeing this type of loss as an investment on a seminar that cost you 5000 dollars and that a lot of employees in your company team have been participating on it, alongside with you? Life is filled with victories and lessons. Only blaming your employees will not send you anywhere. Start to have the mentality of seeing failure as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Relationship. If it is really tough for you to stay with your friends and you are considering staying alone, remember that you would not be pleased to be a king in an island where nobody is living. You will never find anybody that will completely fit your blueprint of a friend, but this should not prevent him or her to be your friend. You might not be the perfect friend either, but your friend is still tolerating your jokes and is trying to put a smile on his or her face just to make you think that he or she likes your jokes. Stop talking how a good friend should be, and become one.
Stuck in a terrible job. If you are not willing to go to your job anymore, because you are still dreaming for another type of job that life was not fair enough to offer it to you, then it might be time for you to start and reflect. What if you saw your job as a tool that is making it possible for you to bring food to your family and buy your kids clothes and toys, and it is also helping you to pay the bills that you are responsible for? This type of mindset could be giving your more inspiration to go to your job. It is not bad if you are willing to leave your job, but do that after you have found the next one. Change your jobs as Tarzan: he jumps from one vine to the other after being sure that he has already landed one of his hands to the other.
Going to the gym. You made a New Year resolution that you will hit the gym each day, but that resolution was forgotten only a few days after. These types of resolutions are common such that they do not sound unfamiliar anymore, as most of us are already part of the crew that does these type of mistakes repeatedly. However there is still hope for improvement. Instead of seeing the gym as an unfortunate task that you are doomed to go to, begin thinking about the exercise as a means that is giving you more energy, vitality, alertness, and better feelings. Your body is connected with your brain, and when you exercise, you are not only helping your body, but your brain too. Start with some realistic expectations about your frequency of going to the gym: if you have never regularly been going to the gym in the past, instead of planning of going each day, how about starting to go once or twice a week? This way, when you go three times, you are not going to take it as a failure of not going everyday as you tended with the original plan, but as a bonus.
Studying for a tough exam. If you are finding it difficult to prepare for the next exam that is only a few days ahead, start to see this upcoming challenge as an opportunity to improve your skills of learning faster and remind yourself about the potential benefits of taking a good grade. A degree, a better job position, a better payment. Moreover, acquired skills could serve you throughout your entire life and they might not be formed through easy challenges. A calm sea does not make a skilled sailor.
Remember: Thoughts are ancestors of actions. They usually represent who we are and how the world knows and identifies us. If you are willing to improve yourself, start that journey with a change of your perspective about things that are preventing you to achieve your goals, rather than giving yourself destructive epithets that might become self-fulfilling prophecies.
If you are curious to know which colors did I see, I will tell you that I was not seeing the actual colors.
