GTD Wannabe

Changing Your Perspective

I’ve had a minor epiphany lately that I’d like to share with you. It has to do with changing your perspective.

First, let me begin by explaining a couple of things. I’m Canadian. For those of you who’ve never been to central Canada (I don’t want to generalize about Canada too much – we do stretch across six time zones, after all), we generally have two seasons – Winter, and Construction. Hockey is our national past time. Curling, speed skating, dog sleds, etc. are not all uncommon. Okay, I’ve never actually seen a dog sled myself, but I have seen the “dog sled crossing” signs.

All this to say is that winter is a pretty big deal here.

Now, most of my life, I have loved spring. Summer’s pretty good. Fall’s beautiful. Winter? Well, it’s *okay*, but after a couple of months of freezing my butt off, and shovelling snow, I’ve had enough. With the exception of the first couple of snowfalls, and maybe one on Christmas day, I’ve never been ecstatic about snow in the forecast. Come January, I start praying for spring. February and March are hell months.

All that has changed. I now embrace winter and am in no hurry to see spring.

What happened is that the spousal unit and I got a snowmobile. Now, my perspective on winter has completely changed. I mean completely – 180 degrees different. Now, I watch the weather forecast and cheer when the temperature drops. I’m excited when we’re going to get a foot of snow (sure it means shovelling, but that means the trails will be that much better). I’m saddened by the fact that even where I live, where we get actual snow, the snowmobile season is maybe 3 months long, assuming you’re having a good winter. I half wish that we lived further north – much further north, in order to take advantage of their awesome snow.

I find the change in my perspective to be amazing. Not just because I like winter now, but because it inspires me to think of other ways to change my perspective, thereby making something onerous into some wonderful. Is there a way I can change the way I look at my thesis, so that instead of dreading it, I can embrace it? How about a way to look at exercise so that it’s pleasurable, instead of a chore? How about those stale items on my next item list that I can’t seem to force myself to do?

So, here’s a challenge for you. Look at the stale items in your next action list. You know the ones I mean – the ones that never seem to get done. Or maybe the ones that keep getting shunted back to Someday/Maybe, regardless of how many times you bring them back out. The ones that give you the most friction, or resistance. Take a look at these ugly critters and think about how you can change your perspective to make them beautiful. Maybe rewording them will make them more appealing. Maybe breaking them down into even smaller next actions will make them seem more palatable. Maybe you’re missing something else, some tool, or skill, that once acquired, will make them easier and more appealing. Maybe you need to bribe yourself – look at it as a reward challenge. Look at what causes you grief and see if you can find a way to change your perspective 180 degrees. And let me know how it goes.