Inside Out or Outside In?

Ever notice how well you're able to recognize how someone else is getting in their own way but can't recognize how you do the very same to yourself?

Why is that?

The problem is that our default is to work from the inside out. Our attitudes and habits are primarily framed by our own values and beliefs, which are informed by our subjective, and often self-serving, needs, wants, dreams, and desires.

Of course, cultivating identity by paying attention to and processing your lived experience is what informs and inspires your character.

And...

You must temper your proclivity for confirmation bias, hindsight bias, self-serving bias, or any of the many other kinds of cognitive biases that we all leverage to maintain our feelings of significance and worthiness.

A practice of working from the outside in is equally important. You must be an objective observer able to bear witness to your own experience as well as an interpreter of that experience. 

You can't, of course, be the only ally in your efforts to cultivate excellence in yourself and your endeavor. You'll want to find co-conspirators as well - guides, mentors, fellow travelers, and a league of allies and accomplices.

But toggling back and forth between your subjective and objective perspectives is how you become an ally in developing your own potential. It's a dance that harmonizes and contextualizes your inner and outer life. Zooming out and in, you discover strengths to amplify and weaknesses to rectify.

How are you zooming in and out today? 

Scott Perry, Difference-Maker Coach at Creative on Purpose.

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