Experience and attachment always influence perceptions.  I’ve fallen victim to shortsightedness on numerous occasions in both my personal and professional life, and you might venture a guess that it rarely produced positive outcomes.

As synchronicity would have it, I was reminded of my current level of frustration and subsequent closed mindedness when I sat down one Saturday afternoon to view a favorite movie of mine.  Here’s the clip that had me laughing and helped me to break free.

I work for a large behavioral health care organization as head of business development.  My perspective is often influenced by what I hear in the community and by my own pressing needs, most notably the need to keep our three treatment centers busy!  If I’m not careful, my view of the problem areas, the areas I believe demand improvement, become the ONLY problems.

The same cautionary tale applies to all of us no matter what role we play in the profession.  It makes it hard to uncover new possibilities, hard to find new ways to grow within the profession.

In the past, when I’ve been willing to set aside my views and talk to others, I’ve been amazed at the differences in perspective and the new insights I gained. When I am open to the experience, new options and opportunities reveal themselves.

“…invent a future, fall in love with it, live in it – and then abandon it on a moment’s notice!”

I love this quote from Seth Godin because it reminds me to wake up when I find myself shutting down!  As I’m challenged with how to grow my business, I could get stuck on the issues that relate to my personal agenda.  And if I ruminate on those issues, if I become attached to them alone, then when someone challenges me – when someone without blinders on asks a perfectly relevant question, I’ll find myself arguing that “these go to eleven”.

And that will most certainly lead to disaster.