Get Through Your Filters

Did you ever put the wrong glasses on?

When I used to wear prescription glasses I had a vast collection developed over the years with varying degrees of prescription. If I put the wrong glasses on, I couldn't see so well. The filters I relied on distorted, instead of helped.

I don't even know why I kept all those old glasses. They weren't useful anymore. Maybe they reminded me of sights I'd seen before. Maybe I thought they'd be useful as a costume or to develop a character (I'm also an actor). It didn't make sense, they proved not to be useful, and I eventually donated them where they could do some good.

You may not have a box filled with old glasses, but you probably do have a set of filters that you look through. You may not even be aware of these filters.

We all see the world through the filters that we have developed. Some filters help - some don't. They all to some extent distort what is really going on. Unless we develop the ability to set aside our filters, they exert far more control over us than we should let them.

Filters of place. Filters of personality. Filters of culture, nationality, race, gender, age. Some are so thin as to be imperceptible and some are so codified that we can't even remove them. They've become part of who we are.

Your perception may be less under your control than you realize. What filters are in your way?

Centered leaders find ways to release their filters. High performance leaders find the distortions and seek clarity.

What old pairs of glasses do you need to discard?

Seeing clearly is a gift. Sometimes we have to unwrap that gift, take off the filters, and see anew.

--- Doug Smith

Front Range Leadership: High performance leadership training

doug smith training: how to achieve your creative goals

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