The same year I started my business Apple came out with its iconic “Think Different” campaign and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets came out. While I’ve got my eye on the past, I am pulling it into the future. Here’s continuing the celebration of my 20 years in business with 20 perspectives on Life Lenses®, the colourful personality assessment I’ve designed and used with thousands of workshop participants.
Quick overview of Life Lenses®
Life Lenses® is all about identifying your perspective; what comes onto your radar easily, naturally and comfortably. Annnnnnd what flies under your radar because it’s awkward, foreign or uncomfortable.
Once you’ve identified your perspective or the lenses you look at the world through, we work on communicating and appreciating other lenses, other perspectives. Because believe you me, that opens up galaxies of ideas, innovation and introspection.
Here’s 20 ways you can benefit from Life Lenses® lessons.
With a little help from some illuminating quotes.
- “Always remember your focus determines your reality.” ~ George Lucas. We can only pay attention to a tiny percentage of things that hit our radar. Where you place your focus drastically affects your interpretation of the world and the people in it.
2. “Since we can’t change reality, let us change the eyes we use to see reality”~ Nikos Kazantzakis. If you can shift your perspective, you’ll rock your world.
3. “The camel cannot see its own hump.” ~ Greek proverb. Often the best way to illuminate your blind spots is to get someone else’s input.
4. “The pot calls the kettle black.” ~ Don Quixote. How you and I see the world and react to it is hugely influenced by our culture, what triggers us etc. There is no neutral.
A highlight from each of the 8 Life Lenses®
5. Stop Life Lenses® gives us the gift of reflection, of looking inward. “It’s only by stopping movement that you can see where to go.” ~ Pico Iyer.
6. Go Life Lenses® give us the gift of action. “You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens.” ~ Mandy Hale.
7. Head Life Lenses® get us to focus on thinking critically. “Ask questions. “A great question is usually better than a good answer.” ~ Seth Godin.
8. Heart Life Lenses® have us focus on the intangible, our intuition. “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essentially invisible to the eye.” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the Little Prince.
9. Journey Life Lenses® have a knack for pointing out the process, the how. “Life is curly. Don’t try to straighten it out.” ~ Susan Scott.
10. Destination Life Lenses® have a flair for goals, for getting things done. “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” ~ Jimmy Dean.
11. The gift of the Mountain Life Lenses® is to keep us focused on the vision, on the big picture. Helen Keller was once asked if there was anything worse than losing one’s sight. She responded, “Yes, losing one’s vision.”
12. The gift of the Carrot Life Lenses® meanwhile is the details. God is in the details” ~ Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Or put another (humorous) way …
Why getting a new perspective is a good thing
13. Never before in the history of our planet have we been so close and yet so far. Taking a second look, gaining a new perspective, can bring us closer.
14. Whether it be individual, organizational, community or country wide, conflict sucks our time, our soul and our energy. It keeps us from doing much needed social change work. Shifting perspectives can give you new ways to resolve conflict.
15. Gaining a new way to view the world, yourself and/or a situation can mean going from painful pointy edges of conflict with not much in common to uncovering a diamond in the rough.
Things you can do to get a new perspective
16. Our perspective infuses everything. It’s a gift. Get to know yours.
17. Try on different perspectives like you’d try on clothes. Shift your around and see what a new perspective can bring,
18. Seek difference. Deliberately reach out for it. Dance with it.
19. The Life Lenses®, just like our perspective, should be used as a frame not a box. Meaning they help shape our world but they don’t define it. Don’t get crunched in by a box. Rather practice stepping out, from one frame into another. Yourself, your community and the world will thank you.
20. And speaking of thank you, take a look at what a thank you looks like from each of the Life Lenses®.
Missed some of this month’s celebratory posts? Here you go …
- 20 years of Learning and Development; Rachel’s haircut, Google and m
- 20 Working Better Together lessons from 20 years of teaching.
Pssst. Did you know 2019 is around the corner? Have I got something for you.
If the Life Lenses® has sparked your curiosity consider taking a deeper dive. Find out your own Life Lenses® and put them to work crafting a fun, fab year for yourself with my online course. Join me online Dec 6th.
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