Getting After It

092: Shift Your Lens, Change Your Life — Mastering Perspective

• Brett Rossell • Season 3 • Episode 92

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Imagine facing life’s challenges with the resolve of Winston Churchill during World War II. In this episode, we delve into how discipline and perspective can serve as your anchor through life’s storms.

By shifting our perspective, anxiety shrinks, clarity sharpens, and we gain the strength to tackle physical challenges and long-term goals with focus and grit.

Empathy takes the spotlight as we explore its power in personal and professional relationships. Whether it’s building a stronger marriage or navigating challenges at work, empathy is the bridge that turns relationships into legacies.

We also confront the courage needed to step out of fear’s shadow and take bold action. Whether it’s leaving a job, starting a new project, or simply making a hard decision, use your most precious resource—time—with intention.

Finally, we anchor ourselves in faith, turning to the wisdom of C.S. Lewis to reframe life’s trials as moments of divine refinement. Faith offers a perspective that transcends the temporary, transforming hardships into stepping stones toward growth. Together, we explore how mental resilience, disciplined thoughts, and trust in Christ guide us to become stronger, wiser, and more capable versions of ourselves.

This episode is a call to action—a reminder that storms are temporary, growth is a choice, and victory is found in discipline, empathy, and faith. Let’s get after it.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

  1. Discipline is about playing the long game. Keep the bigger picture in focus.
  2. Memento Mori: Life is short. Don’t waste it on fear or hesitation.
  3. Empathy shifts your perspective and strengthens relationships.
  4. Faith or belief in something greater provides strength during trials.
  5. Perspective is a skill. Practice reframing daily challenges as steps toward growth.

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This podcast is built for you—the dreamers and the doers. My goal is to provide a space where you can find inspiration, learn from others, and feel empowered to chase what matters most to you.

Your dreams are within your grasp. All you need is the commitment to Get After It.

Speaker 1:

My friends, welcome back. We are jumping into perspective today. It's been on my mind and I have a lot to say. So, without further ado, let's jump in quite a bit. And I don't know necessarily why. I think maybe because I'm getting older and as you get older you just kind of look at life a little bit differently. So it's been on my mind, but I've been thinking about it quite a bit because my wife and I have been speaking about it and I was just interested in trying to understand what I think about perspective, mainly because Allie was in Vegas this past weekend and my uh, my discipline kind of faltered a little bit.

Speaker 1:

If I'm being completely honest, I kind of got lazy. I uh was also kind of um, under the weather, as you can tell through my voice, but not an excuse Um, like I slept in a little bit too long, ate a little bit more than I typically do and let distractions lure me away from my work and the things that I was supposed to be doing. So there's a difference between allowing yourself to have moments of reprieve than abandoning your fortress that you spent years constructing, everything that goes into your routine that makes you. You don't throw it all away in one night. That's what I'm trying to say here. Leisure matters, yes, but never at the cost of the values that you have bled for that have gotten to the point of where you are today. What I think brought this to my mind was the idea of discipline and how perspective helps me maintain that discipline. So I've I've broken it down into like four different buckets that I think perspective applies to, and everyone's life, most people's lives, starting with discipline. Um, because I think discipline is the anchor that gets us to maintain that perspective for a long time.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to start off with this quote from Winston Churchill. He says To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they're figuratively tapped on the shoulder and asked to do a very special thing. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared. This is Winston Churchill. He had such a long-term perspective when he was fighting in World War II for Britain. Despite the daily bombings that he faced, he never lost sight of the eventual victory and along the way he inspired others to adopt the same resilience, because without the support from other people during that time, that would be unimaginable, like an unimaginable hardship to go through by yourself To maintain that perspective that Hitler isn't going to take Europe that. You know what I can push through and I guarantee you. He had to be disciplined with that perspective. He had to think that there was going to be a time when the Nazis were not as strong as they are, the bombings would stop, that his troops would come home safe. He had to keep that in his mind and he had to tell other people to get on board with that because otherwise if he lost other people's enthusiasm or motivation to keep fighting, then they wouldn't have lost the war. But he wasn't going to let that happen and he stayed strong during that time.

Speaker 1:

So to maintain discipline, in my opinion, is to maintain perspective. It isn't merely about seeing the big picture. It's about anchoring yourself to the truth that life is a long campaign and not a single skirmish or battle Like. Look at it and plan it out and think of a strategy that you want for your life. Do you want it to go how you thought of as a kid, where you know you achieved all your dreams and reached whatever goals that you want to eventually becoming the person you always imagined you would? That's going to require a long-term perspective which is going to alter your choices today to make those harder choices when they come. And it's a long-term, lifelong practice to get this right. I don't even think I have it right, but I do know that discipline has helped me stay in the fight a little bit longer and the battles of today they pass into memory and tomorrow's victories depend on the grit that you apply now. And whatever you're going through, it's going to end. How do you want to show up at the end of that? Do you want to be crowned with a Laurel? Do you want to lose faith in yourself, lose confidence in yourself? That all comes from losing your perspective and not being as disciplined as you could.

Speaker 1:

Now, perspective transforms hardship into a test instead of a sentence. Focus on this moment's struggle and anxiety swells blinding you. But if you shift your lens, the tension kind of eases a little bit, the pain becomes finite and manageable and it's just another stepping stone along that path that you are going on, which we call life right. If your life feels like an unending storm, know that tempests don't last forever. Hurricane Katrina it was over Like yes, it caused a lot of damage and a lot of people died, but it ended Same with you. Eventually the clouds will break. For example, if your girl's weight loss, you can't fixate on the daily number on the scale because it's going to fluctuate. You need to think in terms of months, even years, and accept the timeline and the journey goes from being daunting to doable. Perspective is the muscle that lifts the burden, so keep that in mind.

Speaker 1:

And it starts with discipline.

Speaker 1:

You need to be disciplined with your perspective. It's almost like thoughts, like you need to be disciplined with your thoughts. You can't let them stray. And when I was on my run today, I was thinking about this because in the moment I don't know why, but this this week I've been incredibly sore. Uh, could have been my leg day, I don't know, but my legs have been hurting so bad. So I'm like, three miles into my run, my legs are screaming at me to stop and I'm like whatever, I'm just going to let this go, because I know like in the end, an hour and 30 minutes running, it's not going to mean anything to me. It's a blip in the day. I don't even remember that now, but I had to focus and be disciplined with my thoughts in that moment to not think about quitting. Because if I did and I just constantly ran that cycle in my head, I probably would have quit.

Speaker 1:

You have to be strong, you have to be disciplined with your thoughts, and your actions will dictate whatever you're thinking about, and it's the same thing with perspective. Now, another bucket that I would say perspective fits in well is memento mori. Remember you must die. That's what it means. It's a Latin phrase and it's not about morbidity, it's about urgency.

Speaker 1:

Time is fleeting, so you need to act boldly. I, uh, I did this tweet. Um, I did it a couple of days ago, but I thought it's kind of interesting, and it goes into this piece. Time is the single most precious currency you have and it cannot be hoarded. Spend it boldly, spend it honestly and spend it now. Jeff Bezos has the same amount of time as you do In terms of hours in the day. He has the same amount of time. Anyone who you look up to has 24 hours in a day, and no one is exempt to getting more or less. Everyone has the same.

Speaker 1:

Do not let other people's fears or the fear of failure stop you from trying to achieve what you want. For example, pat Tillman. I talked about him a few podcasts ago, but Pat Tillman was a. He started as a great college football player. Eventually he went and he was drafted in the NFL, had a very lucrative career, he was making tons of money, he was playing well and 9-11 happens After 9-11,. He was driven by a clear perspective on life's brevity and understood that his deeper values for fighting for the country meant more than playing football, and so he left his career. He went to go fight for the USA and eventually he died in combat, unfortunately, but he had this perspective that hey, the country's at war, I'm going to go fight. I need to go act now. That did cost him his life, but it is a bold story and one that we can look to for courage.

Speaker 1:

Really, if there's something that you want to do but you're a little bit worried about what other people think or you're worried it's not going to go the way that you wanted it, to just do it. If it's a desire and you want to, if you want to go achieve something or try to reach potential that you've never tried in yourself before, just do it, because you don't have forever. You do not. One thing I would say is you need to identify one fear that's holding you back and take action today to confront it. Do something that scares you. I know it's cliche to say, oh, do one thing every day that scares you, but there's a lot of power in that, because you realize that fear is just a construct of the mind that gets you to think and protect yourself rather than pursue what you want and you need to. You need to focus on that.

Speaker 1:

There's this quote from Chris Williamson that I love kind of puts all this into perspective here and he says remember, whatever negativity is consuming your thoughts probably won't matter in three months time. Whatever negativity is consuming your thoughts, probably won't matter in three months time. Let it sink in for a second, because there's a lot of power in that. Whatever you're worried about now, whatever it is, in three months you'll probably have a different perspective on it. You will have learned a lesson that will have gotten you further into whatever it is. And again, seneca says we suffer more in our imagination than actually in reality. So we play up the fears that we face, we make them worse than they are and because of that it leads to inaction. But if you can put that aside, you will do amazing things. Really nerdy moment here.

Speaker 1:

But there's this game called Warhammer and the main character, his name's Titus is just a beast and these guys are called space Marines. Okay, they're suited up in these huge armors and they go and they fight aliens, right, and Titus is arguably one of the strongest space Marines. It sounds so stupid, but the reason why is because his mentor looked at him when he was a young child and took him in, because he was a child that knew no fear. And eventually he saves the universe, right, great, but there's a lot of power in that. Like fear holds you back, it holds all of us back. But remember you must die. Memento mori, it should not weigh you down, but set you free. Like it should let you go, because everything on earth is destined to fade Mountains erode, look at the grand Canyon. Seasons shift, civilizations topple Rome. Shout out to Rome. Your life is a brief, precious flicker in the dark.

Speaker 1:

Given such a gift, why waste it cowering behind fear or routine, which is why I talked about adaptability in the last podcast. But if you hate your job, find another one. If you're afraid to launch that podcast or start the project, begin today. Concern about what others think. Understand. They're too entangled in their own narratives to dwell on yours. Embrace this truth Time is the single most precious currency you have and it cannot be hoarded. Spend it boldly, spend it honestly, spend it now. You're not getting it back, so let that sink in. Take action today. That's the point of that one.

Speaker 1:

Now there's another form of perspective, that is a superpower I've done correctly and that is empathy. In my opinion, this is something you know, I never really worked on in my life until I got married, until I started dating Allie seriously and and she started teaching me this lesson, for example, she helped me adapt a more empathetic perspective in my marriage. Like, I try and see things from her standpoint. When we're talking about things that we're going through or when she's having a hard time, I try and see things from her perspective so I can better serve her and help her. And empathy has built so much trust and connection and I would say a legacy in our relationship. And I would say a legacy in our relationship we are becoming one and it's all because we try to see each other's perspective before we act and step in and help. She's taught me how to step beyond my own skull, really look outside my head, to look through her eyes before speaking, acting or judging, and I imagine her perspective before I respond, and that subtle shift changes everything.

Speaker 1:

In my opinion, if you give yourself a couple moments to pause before reacting to something that your spouse or anyone says is a superpower, give yourself some time to comprehend what they're saying before you react. Like, my wife deserves a husband who loves her ferociously and who stands steady in the storms, who can laugh with her, who can weep with her and work beside her. And by seeing the world through her eyes, I choose better words and kinder actions. It's a lesson that spreads outward too. It doesn't necessarily have to just be in marriage, and that's what I'm trying to get across here is when you look at, when you tried to look at the world through other people's eyes, it's a huge tool.

Speaker 1:

I use this in sales all the time. When I am speaking to someone trying to get them to use our product, then I have to think about what pain points that they're facing and how our product addresses them, to have a better conversation and to ultimately get the sale, get them to sign the paper and be like yes, I think this will help me. Let's do it. And it's only because I try and picture what it would be like to be them, to be a business owner to have logistics failing in Q4, to have all these problems go on their e-commerce site. That I know I can offer solutions to help with and to make them a stronger business, but I have to have conviction behind that and I have to see from their perspective what's most valuable to them. And it's a, again, a lifelong practice that I think anyone can master. It just is you have to start today.

Speaker 1:

You have to try and be more empathetic, and I always thought empathy was a weakness which is wrong. It's the wrong way to look at it, but I used to think it was weakness to be empathetic for other people to try and understand their feelings when you don't even know your own. But you have to know yourself first before I think you can learn how to see the world from other people's point of views. What I mean by that is understand your feelings, understand, when you have a bad day, that so many other people have days just as rough.

Speaker 1:

I sent my wife a picture of a. It's like a picture of everyone in traffic and each car has a little snippet of what happened to that person in the day. So, for example, like one car says they're rushing to the hospital. The other one says they just got accepted to their dream college. Another one they're going home after their first kiss. They're blasting music after crying from a divorce, they just found out their wife is pregnant and they are rushing home. They just won the lottery and are on their way to the bank. Or they're sobbing because they got fired, like you don't know what anyone's going through at any given time.

Speaker 1:

And so, trying to understand other people's point of views, trying to understand that perspective, everyone sees the world differently and if you try and see how they view the world, then you can help them better. You can respond to them better and be a better friend, resource, ally, mentor, whatever you want to call it, but you can be more focused on their life and help them in a little bit of a better sense. So empathy is a perspective, is perspective in action. It's an alchemy that forges connection and builds a legacy of meaning. The more you work on that, the more people will be like oh, you know, brett's a great guy, he understands me, he gets me, I'll trust that guy with anything or whatever it is. It builds trust, and trust is important in this day and age. You need to have people that you trust in your circle, but you also need to be one of those people for others, and it starts by trying to understand their point of views.

Speaker 1:

I do this all the time with my brother Drew. He is a he's been on this podcast many times an inspiration to me. But one thing that's very different from him and I is he has three kids and I have zero. Yet he trains just as hard as I do. He's there for his wife, he's there for his job, he's there for his church, he's there for his wife, he's there for his job, he's there for his church, and that's a hard thing to do. And so when he calls me, I try and have his perspective for whatever he's going through. If he just needs to talk, then I'm there and I try to be there. He's my best friend and I try to see the world from his point of view when he's going through hard things. And then also, I know he does the same for me and we've built so much trust over the years that I know I could tell him anything and he'll try and help me, and vice versa. We're there for each other. But it's only because we've made that connection and it's only because we've worked on seeing each other's perspectives in life to help us form that bond.

Speaker 1:

Try that in your next relationship, or try that in your relationships that you have right now. Try and see their perspective first before you respond, and put yourself aside for a moment. You're not the most important person in the world, I don't care how much you think that you might be. You're not. No one is. Everyone is equal. Some people have more power than others, but that doesn't matter. Everyone bleeds the same blood. It's red Spoiler alert. It's red.

Speaker 1:

But that leads me to arguably one of the most important forms of perspective in my opinion, and that's faith, because my faith in Jesus Christ provides a grounding perspective that transcends temporary struggles. It's all about eternity at this point, through faith, my trials become refinements and not punishments. I don't look at things that go bad in my life as God punishing me. I don't think that's fair, because everyone has hard things that they deal with in their life, and I hate the argument that, oh, if God was a loving God and bad things happen to you, then he must not be so loving Like that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. God loves you, so he gives you trials to make you stronger. He makes you. He gives you trials to make you a better person. You have the opportunity, if a trial comes in your Be pissed off about it your entire time. You're going through it and blame God for the whole situation, or you can rely on him and try and get through it. He's there for you.

Speaker 1:

There's this quote from CS Lewis. I've broken it down, but I want to talk about it Because I think it sums up what faith means to me, in a very intellectual way maybe, or a very logical way, but to have faith in Christ means, of course, trying to do all that he says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus, if you have already handed yourself over to him, it must follow that you are trying to obey him, but trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because he has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of heaven is already inside you.

Speaker 1:

Cs Lewis, what does that mean, though? First, I think faith as obedience. Like Lewis himself, he equates faith to, or he equates faith in Christ with obedience to his teachings. And he says that you know, if you claim to have faith in someone, you should also follow their advice or their counsel or commandments, whatever you want to call it. And having faith in Christ involves a very similar trust. It leads to obedience, not out of obligation, but out of love and trust. I would say you have to trust him. Now.

Speaker 1:

The nature of trust is interesting because he uses the analogy of trusting someone in everyday life. Like, if you trust a person, you should listen to their advice because you believe they have your best interests at heart. Like I trust my wife, I trust Drew, I trust my parents a few other people and I know they have my best interests at heart. They want to see me succeed. They want to see me succeed. They want to see me do well. So if I'm going to go ask anyone for advice, I'm going to them first. Same here with Christ.

Speaker 1:

Like it involves a similar trust. It leads to you having belief as a action. Like it involves an action based on that belief, and that's what trust is. Is you're focusing on what you can be doing now to improve your situation in the eternities, but because you love Jesus Christ, you're going to be acting in a certain way that's going to get you there.

Speaker 1:

And I think the motivation behind his actions in this quote is interesting to me, because he clarifies that the actions stemming from faith aren't performed to earn salvation and you've heard, you know, faith without works is dead, which I agree with. You can't have faith and not go do something about it. But instead he says that they are a natural response to the salvation that one has already begun to experience through faith in Christ, that one has already begun to experience through faith in Christ. If you have faith in Jesus, then your actions are going to reflect that faith. You're going to repent, you're going to try and be good, you're going to treat other people better than you're treated right, and it means that the motivation for good deeds shifts from earning heaven to expressing the transformation that has already started from within, shifts from earning heaven to expressing the transformation that has already started from within. So don't try and earn heaven, just try and be a better person, and your actions should reflect that. Right, but it's all having this perspective of eternity.

Speaker 1:

Now, finally, lewis describes that the transformation is a first faint gleam of heaven inside you. What? What does that mean? Well, I think he's suggesting that faith in Christ leads to an inner change where your own desires and actions begin to reflect the heavenly and divine nature of God. It's not about striving for a dissonant reward, but living out the reality that that reward has already started to influence your life. Think about that for a second. If you believe in a God, if you believe in Christ, then start striving for the reward that you think you will obtain in heaven, for the reward that you think you will obtain in heaven, and it doesn't have to necessarily be Christ.

Speaker 1:

But I'm a Christian, that's what I believe. So I would say reflect on your own beliefs, reflect on your own values that provide perspective beyond immediate challenges. That's what faith in Christ has taught me is my challenges always end. And if I rely on him, if I stay strong in my faith, then I know I get better from. I get better because God's refining me.

Speaker 1:

My faith in Jesus Christ provides me the ultimate vantage point for perspective. It saves me from darkness and despair. It gives me a framework that transcends just survival. Through God, through Christ, I know my demons can be driven back, my sins can be forgiven, my soul can be refined, and this eternal perspective frames my trials not as cruelty but as a necessary refinement. And I trust that I'll be reunited with those I love in the next life and that my failings can be mended through repentance. I can always get better because of that and that I'm capable, through God's grace, of achieving divine potential. This knowledge guides literally every single choice and belief that I hold, and perspective is the key. It's the hinge upon which your entire reality swings. Think about a door hinge. That's what I'm talking about here. It can transmute pain into growth, fear into daring, isolation into empathy, and when you cultivate perspective, you transform your journey. If you shift your vantage point, you reshape your world. That's why I think, in my opinion, my faith in Christ is the most important perspective I can have. It's thinking about the long-term game.

Speaker 1:

I talked a little bit earlier on in this podcast that life is a short moment, but you need to think about it as a long-term campaign. Same with my faith in Christ, because I know that I will see him in the next life and I will be judged on my actions that I have done on this earth. I need to make sure that I'm doing all I can to act the very best I can so I can be safe in the next life. It got a little religious, but I think it's important just to understand, like, where your perspective comes from. For me, faith plays a big part. It might not for you, and that's fine, but you need to understand what gets you going. You need to understand why you're doing the things that you're doing, and perspective is that key. Perspective reframes your hardship, it fuels your discipline, it builds empathy and it provides you courage, and your journey depends on the lens that you see it through.

Speaker 1:

Like I said, with my run today, I could have just been focusing on the pain in my legs, but if I was going to do that, I wouldn't have been as successful. So I shifted my perspective to let my imagination run. Or I put on a book and just tried to focus solely on the imagery in that book and let it fuel my mind right, fill it up with this beautiful imagery instead of the pain in my legs, and that was the lens I chose to see life through at that moment. Now, that was a lot of information. What are, what are the key takeaways? Well, I'm going to start doing this on the podcast, because I think it's helpful to understand exactly what I'm trying to get across and things that you can take on and put it directly into your life.

Speaker 1:

So, first, discipline is about the long game. You need to keep the bigger picture in your focus. Second, memento mori. I'll say it all the time, but I love that Life is short, so don't waste it on fear or hesitation. Third, empathy shifts your perspective and strengthens your relationships. I am a subject of that, so I fully believe in it and I know it can have the same for you. So, fourth, faith or belief in something greater provides strength during trials. You have to know that you are being refined, that you are being built into something better than what you could ever imagine you being. And then, finally, perspective is a skill.

Speaker 1:

So practice reframing daily challenges as a step towards growth, and I want you to start today. Write down one struggle you're facing and ask yourself how will I view this a year from now? And then take one action towards a better outcome. This requires a lot of planning, and that's why people talk about goals. That's why they talk about having a five or 10 year plan, which I don't necessarily think you need goals, plans or anything like that. You just need to know what you're working for. Goals help quantitatively track those, but it's important just to try to be the best that you can every single day, and reframing your perspective on a daily basis is a challenge, but one that provides substantial results, and I know that if you apply these things to your life, you will see a difference. You'll see yourself start succeeding in areas that you never thought possible.

Speaker 1:

But it all starts with one step and it all starts with sitting down, thinking of whatever freaks you out and trying to figure out how you can overcome it, because life is short. You'll blink and a year will go by Like I can't believe it's Christmas already, like that's insane to me because it felt like I just celebrated yesterday, but so much has happened in a year, which is wild. So I don't know how that happens. Perspective will set you free, but you need to aim it at something that will give you that hope, that faith, that push to maintain it, and discipline is required to maintain that perspective. You have to be smart with your thoughts, control your thoughts just as much as you put gas in your car to get it going.

Speaker 1:

I don't know why I said that analogy. That doesn't really work, but it's so stupid. Just control your thoughts and you'll you'll see yourself grow. I know that to be true. Well, I appreciate everyone for listening. As always, if this has helped someone, send it to someone that you think might need to hear a message like this reach out to me if you ever need help, but be strong in the coming days when you face trials. Realize that it will end and you'll become better in the end for it. Thanks everyone for listening. Until next episode, merry Christmas, and keep getting after it.