The seas were very rough, some would say too rough to be out in.  It was raining, but not just a heavy rain, it was a tropical deluge.

The boat they were in was a 25’ fiberglass rowboat powered by 2, 40 horsepower outboard motors.  They were pounding through the waves with the boat slamming down mercilessly into the trough of each wave after the wave had broken over the bow of the boat soaking everyone on board.  No one and nothing was dry: the rains and the sea water saw to that.  The only consolation was that both were warm.

Lighting was now striking all around them.  A fish leapt out of the water and hit one of the occupants, knocking him off his seat.  It seemed not even the fish wanted to be out in these conditions.  At one point a large piece of driftwood slammed into the boat knocking a motor out of the water.  Thankfully there was no damage and they continued on.

The 2 hour journey to the island turned into over 5 hours of torture on the high seas.

They were a group of international leaders, all part of the same NGO.  They had come from over a dozen countries to Central America for their annual global meeting.  They wanted to visit one of their projects on an island off the coast of Panama, so they braved these conditions to go.

The boat was filled with different nationalities, different languages, different ages, different sexes, different temperaments, different experiences, different abilities, and different perspectives…

The locals who were piloting the boat were totally calm – they had been out in conditions like this many times before.  However, that was not the state of anyone else in the boat: one leader was vomiting over the side, one was staring straight ahead emotionless not uttering a sound, one was convinced this was the day of his death, one was yelling with glee as they rode the waves like a bucking bronco.

One leader saw this as a grand adventure.  Another leader saw it as the worst day of his life.  One was more terrified than he had ever been.  Many determined they never wanted to repeat this experience ever again.  The locals saw it as nothing out of the ordinary – it was simply something they needed to do in order to get where they wanted to go.

They all shared the same conditions.  They were all together in the same boat.  However, everyone had a different perspective, and that is what determined the nature of their experience.

It’s all about perspective.

So, what is your perspective?  How are you perceiving the conditions you are in right now?  Do you like your perspective?  Do you like how your perspective makes you feel?

If you don’t like your perspective, do you want to be like the locals steering the boat totally calm in the midst of the storm?  Or like the adventurer discovering the thrill of the ride?  Do you know how to change your perspective?

Your perspective is an amalgam of your beliefs about yourself, about those around you, and those things you may be depending upon – for example, your “boat”, your “motor”, etc.  As a leader you may be facing a difficult situation right now that has you anxious, worried, afraid, or even terrified.  Your perspective is determining your experience.

If you want to change your perspective there are 2 things you can do: 1. Examine your beliefs and change your beliefs.  2.  Choose to learn from those who have a perspective you want to have.

There are myriad ways to learn from those whose perspective you want to adopt.  You can do that in person, you can read a book, you can watch a video, you can attend a conference or a seminar.

The point is this: your perspective determines how you are feeling about your experience right now.  If you don’t like what you’re feeling, you can change your perspective.

Like Abraham Lincoln said, “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”

What’s your perspective?  If you don’t like it, you can change it.