Weekends are my corrective lenses. Like many, I look forward to my weekends as a time to recharge for the activities of the upcoming week, but the most significant point of recharge is to what I can see. I enjoy getting out and going for a nice long run or walk early in the morning and again as the sun begins to set. Although I may need sunglasses to cut through the glare of the sun peering over the mountains or during its decent into the horizon, yet this is a time when I can focus the most clearly.

For many years I wore reading glasses. My eyes would get tired from long hours in front of the computer or reading endless studies as a part of my academic research. I would often take off my glasses and rub my eyes. They were tired and even the corrective lenses seemed to lose their effectiveness. This past February, I decided that I was sick of wearing glasses and I wasn’t going to wear them anymore. I took them off and haven’t used them since.

Over the course of days, weeks, and now months, my eye muscles strengthened and I no longer wear reading glasses. This doesn’t mean that my eyesight is completely healed, but I would say that it has improved significantly. Sometimes I need to turn something a certain way or into the light to adequately read or see the item, but for the most part, I see pretty clear. Had I not chosen to make that choice, I’d have bought into the belief that the only way for me to see was through corrective lenses, but I have learned that I already had corrective lenses.

In life, whether personally or professionally, sometimes we need to temporarily shift away from how we typically look at something to gain clarity of sight. A colleague of mine shared with me his concept of ‘blind spots’. Think about getting new car, renting a car, or borrowing a car- what’s one of the first thing you figure out when driving it? – Where the blind spots are. Blind spots are barriers to our seeing clearly in every instance. Once we know where they are, we can find ways to improve our visibility and perception of what is around us. But first we need a new perspective to identify them.

Think about your life. Where are your blind spots? Are you a deeply caring person that may allow your love and thoughtfulness for others to affect your better judgement? In business, are you so focused on what you know and how things have worked that you can’t consider a new way of doing things? Our vision is often affected by the world around us, how we know things to be, or sometimes even how we want things to be. As I stated earlier, I put on sunglasses to cut through the glare during my runs- how can you cut through the glare of life and the world as you see it? The answer is reflective activities.

For me, I have to get outside. I have a yearning to get out to get in. By that I mean, my reflective activities, going inside my head and my heart are achieved through my runs and walks- although I can’t say that it is limited to these times, but they certainly help facilitate the activity. Getting out and away, for me, becomes a time to gain greater sight of my expectations, hopes, dreams, and overall contentment and satisfaction with how things are going or how I’d like them to go. During this time I gain perspective.

As my sneakers hit the dirt and my external vision takes in the trees and the world around me, I am alone with my thoughts. What I viewed in one way while in another physical surrounding takes on a new perspective. The glare is taken off the situation and I can see new paths to take as well as a new vantage of the path I chose. I can even see the blind spots from this new perspective.

Reflection is an amazing tool, but complete honesty about what you discover is mandatory. You won’t find blind spots and be able to correct them without this. Without honesty, the exercise is as futile as eating a hot fudge sundae while walking at a snail’s-pace on a treadmill.

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks inside awakens- Carl Jung.

How do YOU gain perspective? Do you know your blind spots? My weekend runs provide me an opportunity to literally get miles ahead while identifying blind spots. For others it may be mountain biking, sitting on the porch having coffee, or weeding the garden (while you are at it, please come do mine); wherever it is, I encourage you to find that physical spot that may enable you to gain clarity and reduce blind spots. As you make this a regular practice, I can guarantee that you will greatly increase your sight, your effectiveness, and your joy for life.

Jolene Church is currently working on a doctoral dissertation on the effects of critical thinking on organizational leaders. She is a mindfulness practitioner and the co-author of the newly released, Thinking 101: Fundamentals of a Successful Mindset- available now on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.

Change is not something that many welcome with open arms, especially if it is unexpected. Lao Tzu, however, so brilliantly pointed out that “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are headed.”

How many times have we balked at a major shift in our lives and then later realized that it was in reality a great thing? This can be applied in the business world as people struggle to adapt to changes or are forced through major organizational initiatives to shift the way that they have typically handled processes and procedures and adopt a new way of doing business.

In our personal lives, overnight changes in relationships, our health, or careers can dramatically affect our direction, but it does not have to affect our success trajectory.

Change is inevitable and how we manage change is the key factor to success in our professional and personal lives. As an organizational change manager, I have seen groups of people reset their direction and build brighter futures for themselves and the organization as a result of unexpected organizational change. How did this happen? Vision.

“Without vision, the people perish,” Proverbs 28:19. When we know where we are going or can at least conceptualize our destination, it’s much easier to get there or at least recognize it when we arrive. Imagine never having been to or having ever seen a picture of a beach or to the ocean and then deciding to head there. Would you even know which direction to go? Would you know what you were looking for?

What happens during sudden life shifts is that we are instantly thrust into a situation wherein we are not quite sure which way to go. Our direction is thrown off and what is familiar to us is thrown off; this causes panic and confusion. When we can pause and visualize where we want and need to go, confusion dissipates.

Organizational change agents understand that clarity of vision helps guide people through the maze of confusion. Vision enables people to navigate away from the familiar and comfortable toward a new future- this requires people to be willing to adapt. A strong leader can help facilitate this process in organizational change, but what about for us on a personal level? Who is our leader? The answer- we are our own leader.

“Destined to become is the person you decide to be,” Ralph Waldo Emerson. We each have a self-motivating spirit within us- a success driver. This driver helps propel us through unfamiliar territory and into the future we dream of. Although life can make us feel defeated at times and less than driven, it is still there- it is a beacon within each of us, wanting to shine light on our intended path.

A leader motivates, encourages and inspires. Who knows you better than you? You know what motivates you, so who is better to kick you into high gear toward achievement than you? It’s not just simply that if life gives you lemons, that you make lemonade, but that you look at the unexpected lemons and realize, although I didn’t plan on having lemonade today, it may end up being great. You then need to plan the steps- visualizing- how to transform what you have in front of you into what you desire.

Remember, although change may sometimes come when we least expect it, it only takes one person to change your life into what you want it to be- and that is you. Embrace shift- it happens- embrace the leader within and shift in your new direction of success. It’s a matter of choice to spend time focusing on where you are or where you want to be.

Jolene Church is currently working on a doctoral dissertation on the effects of critical thinking on organizational leaders. She is a mindfulness practitioner and the co-author of Thinking 101: Fundamentals of a Successful Mindset. www.successfulthinkingmindset.com