Perception is a Muscle

Regardless of application, I think we’d all agree that the ability to have more perspective is better than less perspective. Having perception is quite a valuable tool. Perspective really helps.

The trouble with perception is that you can’t just want it. You have to do things to improve it. You’ve got to challenge your perspective to get more because this concept of improving perception is an active process. You cannot passively accumulate perspective.

In fact, this was illustrated quite directly in a notoriously cruel experiment in which two new born kittens were bound shortly after birth. It’s understood that kittens don’t open there eyes and begin developing their sight until several days after birth. In this experiment, the “top kitten’s” movement was dictated by the “bottom kitten,” whose legs were responsible for maneuvering the both of them. While both cats experienced the same spacial movements, the bottom cat was actively developing, driving, and learning those movements. As a result, the bottom kitten learned to see perfectly, while the top kitten passively didn’t learn sight at all.

Perception for us is the same way. You’ve got to put your feet on the ground and actively move through your efforts at growing perception. In fact, I’d argue that, regardless of the endeavor, the moment you decide you understand something, you’ve committed murder on your perception of that concept.

Get your hands dirty and move around everything that you care about. Turn over rocks and challenge your boundaries because you might just find out how limited your perspective. Perception, after all, is a muscle that needs to be trained.

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach