Zoom-Out

Tag: zoom-out-foundations

  • All perspectives are wrong but some are helpful

    All perspectives are wrong but some are helpful

    Let’s go on a journey to the heart of what it means to be human. Let’s consider the way many people live out their lives.

    Many people spend their entire life… interpreting opinions as facts.

    Many people spend their entire life… interpreting what they witness, as being the reality.

    Many people spend their entire life… assuming that there is only a single reality.

    Many people spend their entire life… believing that everyone witnesses the same reality.

    Many people spend their entire life… being powerless victims to their reality.

    They may never realise that they live in a ‘Matrix’ partly of their own making. That they can be ‘Neo’ and alter their own reality for the benefit of themselves and those around them (indirectly).

    What if… they had a “crowbar to prise open the cracks of reality”?

    What if… they had in their hands a “hacksaw blade to cut through the bars of their mental prison?”

    What if… they understood and practised the most fundamental of all the Zoom-Out PRINCIPLES:

    “All perspectives are wrong but some are helpful.” — Zoom-Out Signpost

    The structure of this phrase may look familiar. You might spot that this is an adaptation of:

    “All models are wrong but some are useful” — George Box, Statistician

    After all, a perspective is simply a mental model. One constructed by our senses and brain. In other words, your reality is a model constructed inside your consciousness.

    Let’s take a closer look at the George Box quote courtesy of Wikipedia:

    “Burnham & Anderson, in their much-cited book on model selection,[7] state the following (§1.2.5).

    A model is a simplification or approximation of reality and hence will not reflect all of reality. … Box noted that “all models are wrong, but some are useful.” While a model can never be “truth,” a model might be ranked from very useful, to useful, to somewhat useful to, finally, essentially useless.”

    If you replace the word “useful” with “helpful” and recognise that all the perspectives we hold are essentially mental models then you can see how this inspired my own adaptation, or perspective, on this famous quote.

    It’s dangerous territory when we rigidly stick to a perspective because we think:

    (a) it is correct

    (b) it is the only correct perspective.

    Instead, if we see that any perspective we hold is an approximation and one of many, many approximations then we have more mental flexibility and choice. We free ourselves from the mental shackles of our default and only perspective. As many people say, happiness is a choice, and this choice about our point of view is a key contributing factor. In this regard, we can certainly choose to abandon ‘unhelpful’ perspectives and seek out and adopt more ‘helpful’ ones that boost our own well-being and the well-being of those around us.

    Let’s consider perhaps the most profound erroneous perspective of all and one that we all share at least to some degree.

    The perspective is this:

    “I am the centre of the universe.”

    Our subjective experience plants us firmly at the centre of the universe. It physically envelops us. We view the universe from our point in space and time and it appears to physically and metaphysically ‘revolve around us’.

    Of course, we cannot all be right. Indeed, we are all wrong. Every single one of us.

    What’s more, the more we lead our lives in the mode of “I am the centre of the universe.” the more suffering we are likely to encounter. Why? Because we set up an expectation that we are special. That people and physical matter will comply with our wishes just because we are “me”. We expect life to be fair to us, perhaps more than fair. The odds are tipped in our favour. We get upset when other people appear to put their needs ahead of ours! How dare they! How dare someone inconvenience me!

    If instead, we live our lives without this self-centred, universally-centred perspective, we open our eyes and hearts to the plight of our fellow humans that are all living out their lives just like you. They want to be happy. They experience suffering. We can all help each other if we stop thinking we are the ‘special one’. In a counter-intuitive way, the world is now a more humble and satisfying place. We are all in the same boat. We are all special. Everything is special. Life is not fair but we can choose to redress the balance in whatever way we can. Instead of despising the person that stands on our foot; is ahead of us in a queue; is holding you up at the till with their slow behaviour; gets ahead of us on the motorway in their car; or gets that job promotion we wanted; we can see that they are living their lives the best way they can, just like us. By opening our eyes to our non-uniqueness we also open our eyes to the diversity of life and are more tolerant to behaviours we perhaps at first do not recognise in ourselves.

    If we can get this perspective so wrong, what other perspectives do we hold that are just plain wrong?

    The answer of course is…

    All of them.

    But as I said, some perspectives are more helpful to us and our fellow humans than others.

    Need some more convincing?

    Let’s try a couple of thought experiments:

    A) If 100 people witness the same event, each of those people will have a different perspective and indeed a different experience. Whether subtly or dramatically so. All of the perspectives cannot be the real truth. If one of them is the truth, which one?

    B) Depending on the day of the week, time of day, your mood, what you ate for lunch, etc, you will construct a different perspective faced with the same event. Therefore “perspective NOT EQUAL TO event”.

    Since all perspectives are wrong then my perspective about this is surely wrong. Which of course it is.

    But it is, however, incredibly helpful if you want to lead a more effective, resilient and fulfilling life!

  • “Perspective is everything” by Rory Sutherland

    “Perspective is everything” by Rory Sutherland

    Rory Sutherland highlights our neglect of psychological solutions in favour of purely technical solutions.

    Rory Sutherland is a British advertising executive. He is the current Executive Creative Director of OgilvyOne.

    He’s a pioneer in the fields of marketing and economics. He highlights how human perspectives are often overlooked but play such a huge role in the delivery and consumption of ‘value’.

    In this TED Talk video: “The circumstances of our lives may matter less than how we see them, says Rory Sutherland. At TEDxAthens, he makes a compelling case for how reframing is the key to happiness.”

    Here are some Zoom-Out highlights from Rory’s talk:

    “Reality is overrated”

    “The power of reframing things, cannot be overstated!”

    “The power to rebrand things… cannot be overstated!

    Interesting to note that Rory refers to “Rebranding” as advertising reframing?

    “The value of perceived value should be treated absolutely equivalent to any other type of value.”

    The value of marketing. There is value in changing the way people look at things.

    “We’ve given far too much priority to engineering solutions… and not nearly enough to psychological solutions.”

    “One of the problems with classical economics, is it’s absolutely preoccupied with reality, and reality isn’t a particularly good guide to human happiness.”

    Happiness is often more to do with our sense of control over our predicament than the predicament itself.

    “Perception is leaky.” i.e. perception of one thing changes your perception of another, e.g. having your car valeted and cleaned makes you feel that your car drives better.

    This is a key slide from Rory’s talk:

    Rory goes on to make the case for considering psychological aspects and solutions in the mix amongst technological and economic solutions. He cites Google as being as much of a psychological success as a technological one.

    Rory’s TED Talk is highly recommended viewing.

    If you were to look at the World through Rory’s eyes, how would you aim to change perspectives in order to improve the human experience? Within our cities? On our transport? Within our workplaces?

  • The Zoom-Out Compass

    The Zoom-Out Compass

    The zoom-out compass is a “personal reality” navigation device and a visual summary of the zoom-out dimensions and signposts.

    As with any compass it helps us navigate, although in this case it helps us to navigate our subjective reality in many dimensions.

    Zoom in for a closer look!

    With labels:

  • An introduction to Zoom-Out and Planet Zoom

    An introduction to Zoom-Out and Planet Zoom

    Finding broader and more helpful perspectives to boost wellbeing and performance.

    In this increasingly connected, collaborative, dynamic and rapidly changing world, our ability to see the bigger picture, embrace diverse perspectives, manage our emotions and see clearly is ever more valuable.

    Zoom-Out is all about finding the most helpful perspective in any given situation and is relevant to all aspects of personal life and work.

    To begin our journey, we’ll venture to another world which you may recognise and exploit to optimise your reality.

    Planet Zoom

    A planet not too far away is home to two particular types of an inhabitant.

    The Zoom-Ins and the Zoom-Outs.

    Let’s meet them now…

    Zoom-Ins

    Zoom-Ins are good at focusing in on a single detail or aspect.

    And given the choice of a positive or negative aspect or thing…

    …a Zoom-In will tend to focus more on the negative due to inbuilt negativity bias.

    At times, Zoom-Ins can become fixated on a narrow and unhelpful perspective.

    …sometimes for days, months or years!

    A small thing can become blown out of proportion.

    “Nothing in life is as important as you think it is, while you are thinking about it”— The Focusing Illusion, Daniel Kahneman

    Zoom-Outs

    Zoom-Outs are good at seeing the bigger picture — taking a broader perspective.

    “Child, you have to learn to see things in the right proportions.
    Learn to see great things great and small things small.” — Corrie Ten Boom

    Both Zoom-Ins and Zoom-Outs have their pros and cons:

    The Human Perspective

    As humans, we have both the abilities of the Zoom-Ins and the Zoom-Outs.

    However, our Zoom-In ‘muscle’ is quite strong and we too, like the Zoom-Ins, have a negativity bias that means that at times we can adopt a narrow and unhelpful perspective to the detriment of ourselves and others…. in some cases for days, months or years.

    And furthermore, our brain can have difficulty distinguishing between ‘real’ and imagined experience. Our psychological and physiological response to an imagined threat, for example, can be as powerful as if that threat was real.

    “I have suffered a great many misfortunes in my life, most of which never happened” — Mark Twain

    In addition to responding to something imagined as ‘real’, we may derive something ‘imagined’ from what is real.

    We sometimes incorrectly associate physiological responses to the wrong cause, the wrong reality in some sense.

    A special case of this being misattribution of arousal where for example a person interprets a fear response as romantic arousal.

    As with the inhabitants of planet Zoom, both zoom-in and zoom-out have their pros and cons.

    When Zooming-In is helpful:

    • Focusing on a helpful aspect or detail of yourself, a person or the world
    • Getting into a flow state — getting “in the zone”; focusing on one thing can is a key ingredient to entering a flow state
    • Focusing on what is truly valuable

    When Zooming-In is unhelpful:

    • Fixated on an unhelpful aspect or detail of yourself, a person or the world

    When Zooming-Out is helpful:

    • Taking a broader perspective to reveal the bigger picture
    • Reveals helpful aspects; one of which may be helpful to zoom-in to
    • Reveals the connections and relationships between the parts
    • Considering the broader context — “context is everything”

    When Zooming-Out is unhelpful:

    • Seeing the bigger picture can lead to analysis paralysis and a lack of action
    • Seeing the sum total of a situation can make you feel overwhelmed; especially if you are struggling to see the positives

    So clearly, we need to cultivate both our Zoom-In and Zoom-Out abilities, however, it is often our ability to zoom-out which is the least developed and is the key to finding the most helpful thing to Zoom-In on.

    By strengthening our ability to Zoom-Out and find the most helpful perspective, we can live a more effective, agile, resilient and fulfilling life.

    We can learn to recognise when we are Zoomed-In on something unhelpful.

    Then we can become better at Zooming-Out to take a broader perspective and find a more helpful perspective.

    We can Zoom-In on something more helpful as appropriate.

    We can also strengthen our Zoom-Out abilities which can provide us with broader perspectives and more options for Zooming-In when helpful.

    Our ability to both Zoom-Out and Zoom-In are very powerful. Part of the skill of being human is to know when to do which. There are pros and cons to both which we can be mindful of.

    The Zoom-Out Premise and Motto

    To recap, the Zoom-Out concept is based on a simple premise:

    At times, we can become fixated on a narrow and unhelpful perspective

    We can become Zoomed-In on something unhelpful.

    Which brings us to the core signpost or motto of Zoom-Out:

    Zoom-Out to find the most helpful perspective

    Here’s a potential dictionary definition:

    Zoom-Out [zoom-out]
    verb
    To Zoom-Out is to break free of a narrow or fixed unhelpful perspective and see a more helpful perspective

    The words “break free” point to the fact that often we are stuck in or with a particular perspective.

    In some cases, you could refer to some perspectives as a “mental prison”.

    Strong words but our perspectives can hold us back as effectively as an iron cage.

    Our perspectives are much more subtle however as we cannot necessarily see the bars or see that we have any choice at all in entertaining another perspective.

    The existing perspective just is.

    Which brings us to highlight another phrase in this definition: “see a more helpful perspective”.

    The key motivation and purpose of Zoom-Out is to help us have more options and exercise more choice than we might otherwise have had regarding how we see things.

    Note that I fall short of using the phrase “adopting a more helpful perspective” — the adopting part is down to you — the aim here is to provide you with more options.

    Note that there is still benefit in Zooming-Out to see more perspectives even if you ultimately decide to stick with your original perspective. It may have strengthened your resolve for example. Or maybe it will help in a similar situation in the future.

    There’s also a case of the more you Zoom-Out the easier it gets.

    I often state a deeper definition which builds on the one above as follows:

    To Zoom-Out is to see beyond your current reality to many potentially more helpful perspectives.

    This is because our perspectives literally shape our reality. For this reason, the Zoom-Out strapline is:

    “Optimise your reality”