‘Looking Up’ Will Change Your Perspective
As I wrapped up my 30-year career with the largest earthmoving manufacturer in the world, I finally sat down to begin writing my first book. I knew that I wanted to write about my life, my experiences, and my unique figurative and literal perspective on the world. But writer’s block arrived early for me. What single message do I want to deliver on a platform that will reach millions? How can I make an impact?
The next day, a stranger waited by the entryway of the building I was approaching and held the door for me. This simple act set me on my journey of crafting my story into Looking Up: How a Different Perpsective Turns Obstacles into Advantages.
The Long & The Short of It
For you, having a door held may be a very nice gesture from a stranger. For me, it is a requirement to enter most buildings that do not have automatic doors. I was born with a rare form of dwarfism that creates many challenges in my daily life. It requires me to ask for a lot of help, and once I finally learned to embrace that reality, the universe answered back with thunderous support. Where I had once seen obstacles, I changed my perspective and viewed them instead as advantages. I now call this the Looking Up philosophy, and it is how I live my life each day.
There Is No Such Thing as Knowledge at First Site
In my 2017 TED Talk, I make the statement, “Society is increasingly placing people in silos, based on biases and ideologies.” We are constantly being told, generally indirectly, to align ourselves with people that look like us, think like us, worship like us, and the list goes on. But what if we tore down those silos and met each other, as we are, in our differences? What if we offered to help other people, especially those that are unlike us, find success? Within the pages of Looking Up I expand on how this allows us to see that everyone has immense value. It is an incredibly empowering way to navigate this world.
This whole concept more than a notion. This is a way of giving of ourselves that we must adopt in order to combat the singularity of today’s perspective. We must elevate others as a natural way of moving through life–with strangers, our colleagues, our families, our friends. In my experience, supporting others in their success has bred success in my life as well. I would not be where I am today without my support system: family, friends, colleagues, and the many strangers that help me every single day of my life.
Focus on Results, Not Problems
In my book, I tell the story of a young nursing student assigned to me during my first surgeries at Hopkin’s. “Kathy interpreted pain and hardship differently than most. In her view, they were an inevitable part of life and, therefore, common. So common, in fact, that there was no reason to dance around another’s adversity wondering what to say or do to avoid offense; doing so only delays your ability to lighten another’s load. Her philosophy was, just get in there and help.”
There is so much that we cannot see by looking at a person, especially what they are struggling with in their lives. Now, one of my struggles is very easy to see: the world was not built for people like me. But we cannot see if someone is fearful of a lay-off at work, caring for an aging parent at home, or struggling financially. Approaching people with compassion and the willingness to meet them at their needs and lift them up, Kathy did this naturally, and I looked up to her for it.
Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. Change your perspective on asking for help. Asking for help gives you the opportunity to meet people, to learn from them, to be exposed to different approaches to solving the same problem. It is a neutralizer of biases and ideologies. The universe will answer you back with thunderous support.
