Someone once said, “perception is reality”, a very true statement. I use this all the time. The way I see things is not how you may see them. Take the opening statement of this FFfT. I start out saying “Someone once said…” Given that I am in New York today at an event you may think that I took a short cut and was too busy to look who made the statement… That perception becomes your reality.
The glass half full or half empty is a classic example of perception. Some may always say it’s half empty, others may say it’s half full. Some may say it depends on the situation. It could also depend on how thirsty you are.
Let me share something that happened to me earlier this week. I have been trying to get a meeting with someone, and finally got one. She cancelled and then went dark… crickets. Honestly, I was a little annoyed. I recently saw her at an event and asked what happened. Keep in mind I am annoyed. She apologized (clearly backed into a corner). Still annoyed. She explained that someone in the family was ill and had recently passed and family had taken up all her time. My perception was my reality… It was my bias from doing sales so many years. Internally I felt like crap.
There are many things that determine our perception and reality.
What is your agenda?
What do you want/need?
What do you fear?
What is your mindset at that moment? What are your beliefs/values?
How do you overcome all this? Have as many facts as possible. The more you know, the more informed you are, the better you will be.
One of my favorite quotes on this topic is “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” by Marcus Aurelius. Really drives the point home.
So, who said “perception is reality”? Lee Atwater.
Have a great weekend.
—Vijay
About Friday Food for Thought (FFfT)
I frequently attend conferences and retreats on entrepreneurship and leadership and while I am away, the J2 team picks up the slack, allowing me to learn to be better at what I do. I wanted to share what I was learning with my team, so I created the weekly FFfT emails in November of 2015 and have been writing them ever since.
Before long, the J2 staff began sharing the FFfT emails with their friends and family and now other leaders have asked to be included, which led to the creation of this newsletter. I hope you enjoy!