Creating Space to Find Perspective ✍️

A “boss battle” young professionals face today, both in and out of the office, is…

• Writer’s block

• Work block

• Spiritual block

• Creative block

• Social block

• Financial block

• ________ block

Fill in the blank with just about anything. As humans, we have limits and capacities. Therefore, there are spaces and seasons where some kind of block feels inescapable.

So, if it’s inevitable, the question becomes: how do we handle it in a healthy, sustainable way?

Unfortunately, I don’t have a framework for you. However, what I do have is a borrowed lyric from none other than, singer-songwriter, Ben Rector.

(Who, oddly enough, is making his second-pseudo appearance in this newsletter. He’s the GOAT)

The lyric goes like this:

“Sometimes we can get lost, living in the here and now. Sometimes it takes the sky, to see what's on the ground. It seems like you end up getting what you need, yeah, looking down from 30,000 feet.”

Put simply: in seasons of ______ block, create space to find perspective.

Where do you find your “30,000 foot perspective” best? Where do you struggle to find it?

For me, there is something special about a blank journal or a long walk that creates space to think in ways other environments like a coffee shop or a crowded gym never could.

Here are a few spaces to consider:

• A bike ride

• A coffee shop

• The woods

• A crowded gym

• A walk in the park

Ultimately, choose a place where you focus best!

I’m still very much in process here. As of today though, I feel like I am growing as a solitary learner, especially through writing, and a social learner through conversation and observing.

(Shameless plug: Dave wrote an article, Readers are (not the only) Leaders, a few weeks ago. In it, he unpacks learning styles like solitary and social learning. Pretty neat stuff I was not aware of until his newsletter.)

On the flip side, I struggle to find perspective through podcasts. I’m not an auditory learner… at all.

How do you find perspective best? And where do you struggle to find it?

Here are a few ideas to spark your thinking this week:

• Moving in silence

• Travel

• Prayer

• Listening to a good album

• Exercise

• Large community gathering

• Journaling

• Calling a close friend to process

Simon Sinek famously coined the phrase “start with why.” Sorry Simon, we’re finishing with it.

Why is creating space to find perspective in seasons of _______ block important?

Without it, we are hamsters on a wheel. Running hard, but getting nowhere, with little perspective or strategy for the road ahead.

If you haven’t read the tiny book of Haggai much, I highly recommend it. It has gut-punched me more times than I’d like to admit. In chapter one, the Israelites had lost perspective. They were focused on building their own homes rather than God’s temple. God’s response?

“You have planted much, but harvested little” sounds a lot like a hamster on a wheel. Focusing on the wrong things. Not keeping the main thing, the main thing.

In the historical context Haggai was written, the Israelites didn’t give careful thought to their ways. They didn’t create space to consider what mattered most, the re-building of God’s temple. And it cost them (spoiler alert: God was gracious and faithful to them despite it, though).

In today’s world, the context may be different, but the principle still applies. We, too, can get caught up in the urgent over the important, failing to step back and gain perspective on what truly matters. Guilty anyone? I am.

So, here’s the call for you and me: 

“Give careful thought to the paths of your feet” (Proverbs 4:26, NIV).

Dial in the where, how, and why you find perspective. Then show up consistently. Avoid the hamster wheel, and find what you need looking down from 30,000 feet.

In seasons of _______ block, create space to find perspective by knowing why you do it, and where & how you do it best.

As always, let us know how we can help you navigate your world as you navigate the world. Dave and I would love to connect.

In Your Corner.

See you next Tuesday!