The Reality of the Situation

“You’re not seeing the reality of the situation”, I was told the other day as I was intentionally focusing on finding the positives.
“But it’s not real.” As if I didn’t hear him the first time…

Whether on radio, or at workshops or meetings, I have been very vocal about my practice of consciously focusing on seeing positives.  I find the more I practice, the more “unconsciously efficient” I become at seeing positives.
The power of small simple practices can not be over estimated and I’m surprised at how easy and natural it has become.

I’m also well aware of how much more practice is needed.
And so I continue.

One such practice on which I’m currently working, is on shifting my perception.
I have found so much of my “reality”, is totally based on my perception of my reality.
And I’ve learned how my “perception” can so often be easily shifted.
One example is when I did a 10 day fruit and vegetable fast. My perception of eating changed drastically to where I no longer cared about food, only nutrition.
In only 10 days.

Have you ever had a situation where you were 100% certain, and, in the next moment, your “reality” was the exact opposite. Understanding that my perception can so easily shift, I decided it would be wise to consciously practice choosing the direction I want to move my perception.

A trusted wingman recently sent me an article from NPR news about a study discussing, for lack of a better term, the power of positive perception.

Jessica Witt, a psychologist at Purdue University who researches how perception and performance are related, decided to look at the game of golf. She found how the appearance of the hole changes depending on whether you are playing well or poorly and decided to see if one could improve their golf score, simply by altering their perception.

In her lab, she made an artificial putting green and used an optical illusion to make the hole appear larger or smaller than it really was. This optical trick (see below) is called the Ebbinghaus illusion and you can see how it appears to change the size of the center hole. She found when people perceived the hole to be larger, they were more successful at making their putts.

This study fascinates me. If shifting one’s perception is all that is needed to improve one’s golf score, then doesn’t it follow that by varying my perception, I too can achieve better results in my professional and/or personal life? I believe it clearly demonstrates that my outcome can be improved by changing my perception.

Have a sales call today?
See your prospect as wanting to do business with you.
Have a mountain of paperwork to get through?
Try perceiving it as a smaller pile.
Meeting with your boss, or your employee?
Look at it through their eyes for one minute.

Whatever your challenge, try altering your perception, even for just one minute.
You too, will be amazed at the results, and how easy it is for your momentum to swing, your confidence to increase, and your “reality” to improve.

Thanks for allowing me to be your wingman today.
In Appreciation
Michael