Thrilling Thursday - Thinking in Someone Else's Shoes

Thrilling Thursday - sometimes it is thrilling to think inside someone else's shoes.

Every Thursday throughout the month of August the Thrilling Thursday posts have been about thinking differently. Today's post is about thinking inside someone else's shoes.

Many of us never spend time thinking about how others see a situation. We look at things from our own perspectives and cannot imagine why we would ever look at things from someone else's perspective. I am suggesting that you look at things from another person's perspective so that you can get a fuller perspective of a situation.

Think back to your elementary school. Do you remember when you walked into school the first day of kindergarten? As a little kid, the school seemed so big, the halls were so wide, the classroom so large,  the desk and chairs as if they were made for big people. Many years have gone by, perhaps you are now taking your own children back to that school as kindergarteners. When you look at the elementary school now, the halls probably seems small, the desks are tiny and you could never sit in one of those chairs and maker it out alive.


Now in reality, the size of the halls, classroom and furniture have not changed. It is all the same as it ever was. We have changed. We are larger and older. Our perspective has changed.  Changing perspective from mother to father, from child to parent or from customer to seller  makes the situation look different. If you look at shopping from the perspective of the store owner you will understand that selling meat cut on Wednesday less expensively on Friday will get rid of a lot of meat before it goes bad. This will help you understand why you are getting your chicken for twenty-nine cents per pound less on Friday. If you understand that the cell phone manufacturer wants you to buy a phone and that a rebate of $50 will make you buy the phone, but you most likely won't fill out the rebate papers on time. You understand the manufacturer's motivation.

Looking at a situation from someone else's view will help you get a fuller picture.  While it may not cause you to change your mind about a situation, it will help you to understand how the other person sees things. If you understand how the other person sees things, it will help you figure out how the other person will react to the situation. If you know how the other person will react to the situation, you can guide you actions in the most productive way possible. So, the question for you this Thrilling Thursday is whose shoes will you think in today?

Add a link to your favorite post about looking at things from a different perspective, be sure to check the links ahead of yours.