When In Doubt, Zoom Out

Life seems binary, a constant string of extremes. It’s either “yes”…..or ”no.” Someone buys our product…..or they don’t. We achieve our goal…..or we don’t. Someone downloads our podcast episode…..or they don’t. Here’s one thing I do know. When we focus on these singular outcomes, it can be immensely frustrating.

This idea came up full-force recently when meeting with a client. We were reviewing their last three monthly budgets. One month they were $300 over budget. The next month they were $400 under budget. The third month they were $200 over budget. Needless to say, they felt like failures. In their mind, a “win” is nailing the budget on the head…..or perhaps being within $50 of it. Based on their definition of success, they were huge failures.

When this happens, we need to zoom out. Instead of focusing on binary outcomes, we needed to look at the bigger picture. They had been budgeting for nine months at this point, so we totaled the discrepancy in their nine budgets. In total, they were $126 over budget over a nine-month period……meaning on average they come within $14 in any given month! Rarely do they get within $200, but they average being within $14. On a $7,000 monthly take-home income, they’ve come within 0.2% of their budget. Can we all agree that’s the definition of winning?!?!

When they focus on singular outcomes, they feel like a failure. When they zoom out, they realize they are succeeding at an incomprehensible level. Perspective matters.

This applies to most areas of life. Let’s give ourselves a little more credit…..and zoom out.