Rise Above Your Own Perspective

Seeing the world through your own lens is natural. Seeing the world from the perspective of others is desirable yet elusive and difficult. How do you transcend from your own view to being able to see through the eyes of others?

"That's not my truth."

Have you ever heard someone say that? It became a common phrase in society a few years back, often in discussions around politics or even science.

An old co-worker of mine said "That's not my truth" when we were discussing the age of the planet. He insisted it is 6,000 years old despite massive evidence and even proof that its age is actually measured in billions of years.

Looking at the world through his lens and considering how he was raised, that was his truth. He was just unwilling to see the situation from any other perspective, even the perspective of empirical evidence.

On its face, "That's not my truth" is an inherently selfish statement, as if one has the right to their own version of the facts. But it is also understandable.

It is in everyone's inherent nature to see the world from their own perspective. This perspective is shaped by many things: how and where we are raised, personal experiences that have apparent cause-and-effect relationships, and even the education (or lack of) we receive growing up.

Another force that impacts and shapes our individualized perspective is how we are psychologically and emotionally hardwired.

As measured by your Core Values Index™ psychometric profile, you will approach and respond to myriad experiences in a particular way by default. Your CVI profile shapes the way you prefer to behave, the things you enjoy and don't enjoy, and by extension of these joys and aversions it even shapes the kind of jobs or even career paths where you have a high likelihood of success — or frustration.

No one is an island unto themselves.

We all must interact and work with others in both personal and professional relationships in order to get the most out of life.

Whether it's working cooperatively with colleagues at the office on a big project, or planning a vacation with your family, the ability to see things from the perspective of others is invaluable.

There are a few steps you can take to improving your ability to see the world through other people's perspectives.

Different Perspectives

First, understand where you are coming from and why.

If you find you always seem to approach situations as a problem to be solved, a task to be completed, a relationship to be formed, or knowledge to be gained, then you can learn to recognize when that's happening and think, "This my perspective, but it likely isn't the perspective of others."

This starts a shift in your mind from auto-pilot into more of a "watch and listen" mode. You and the other person are experiencing the same thing but you are seeing it from a different viewpoint.

This is where you benefit from taking the CVI. It not only describes the lens through which you see the world, but it teaches you why and how. The second thing the CVI describes is how others see the world.

The CVI not only describes the lens through which you see the world, it also teaches you why and how. The second thing the CVI describes is how others see the world.

Over time you can not only learn how to recognize the perspective of others (as defined by their likely CVI profile), but understand how it shapes the way they approach everyday experiences.

This creates room for an implicit respect within you that enables you to not only recognize another person's perspective, but also helps you honor and value it.

As the artist Prince said, "We are here to get through this thing called life."

Every person you meet and work with is working toward that goal, just like you (and Prince). Each of us has a particular way of doing that, shaped not only by our individual life experiences but also by our innate and unchanging hardwiring — our personality's DNA.

Once you acknowledge and respect that you have your own perspective, you can begin acknowledging and respecting the perspective of others.

Core Values Index™ and CVI™ are trademarks of Taylor Protocols, Inc.