Mr. Boffo and Perspective Shifting

I was reading the Sunday Chicago Tribune yesterday, more specifically, the comics section, and the Mr. Boffo cartoon caught my eye as a great example of a coaching process I used called Perspective Shifting:

Panel 1 - Man: Life is like a really super great roller coaster.

Panel 2 - Woman: Because you have ups and downs ... it's filled with thrills, exciting surprises ...

Panel 3 - Woman: And you never know what's going to happen next?

Panel 4 - Man: No ... there's a lot of waiting.

So if you were to take a look at something that's been challenging you at work or in life lately, would you say that your stress and strain are more from the ups and downs of not knowing what's going to happen next, or more because of the waiting? Regardless, it might be helpful to consider that you've actually got it backwards. In other words, maybe all those ups and downs, etc. are happening because you're waiting. Which begs the question: Waiting for what?

Or maybe you think you're waiting (read: procrastinating) but in reality you're actually busy doing other things - recharging your batteries, taking care of a bunch of little things that have been bugging you, working on something else entirely, etc. (I like to call this Productive Procrastination because it's not like nothing's getting done ... it's just something other than what you initially intended. If this is the case, give yourself a break because you ARE being productive.)

Maybe you aren't waiting after all - maybe you're just on a different ride and not even standing in the roller-coaster line. Which begs the question: What ups and downs, thrills and exciting surprises, or better yet, learning and insights, are currently going on inside you that you're not realizing? How are you waiting less than think?

Often times it's helpful to look at things from a completely different view. This Perspective Shifting often stretches your thinking in very meaningful ways.