The Power of Framing, Awareness Levels, and more.

Read time: 3 minutes

The Power of Framing

Your perspective on the world can significantly change your mindset—for better or worse.

Would you rather look at every roadblock as a problem or annoyance, or would you rather see them as challenges and opportunities to learn?

Ideally, the latter.

It’s all about how you view the world and your surroundings.

These are three tactics I use to shift my perspective on life and significantly improve my mental state:

1. Avoid framing wins as losses

If you do something well, don’t knock yourself down by saying you could’ve done more. That’s a surefire way to always feel Imposter Syndrome and never be satisfied.

If you get 1% better today, don’t frame it as “why didn’t I get 2% better instead?”

Take your wins with pride.

And if you have a bad day, you can either beat yourself up or actively seek to learn something new from it.

Frame losses as learning experiences.

2. Zoom out.

Sometimes when you feel like you’re going in circles and making no progress, you need to zoom out.

Maybe it’s not a circle—but a spiral, ascending upwards.

As you learn and grow, you climb the spiral. It may look like endless circles from the ground, but you’re constantly moving upwards when you change your perspective.

Growth isn’t linear.

3. Don’t make hasty judgments.

A farmer wakes up one morning and realizes his horse ran away. (boo.)

His family is angry and annoyed, but later that day, the horse comes back—along with two others. (yay!)

The family is elated. They take the horses and ride them across their field. It’s a beautiful day until one of the horses throws the farmer off, breaking his arm. (boo.)

After a trip to the hospital, the farmer returns home only to find conscription papers at his door. The army is taking all able-bodied people to fight in a war. However, with a broken arm, he’s safe to stay. (yay!)

This goes to show—you don’t know if something is good news or bad news until you see the results.

Don’t assume something is one way or the other.

Don’t make rash decisions.

Wait to see how things unfold.

Awareness Levels

There are three types of awareness levels:

1. NPC (Non-playable character)

This is a video game term for any character you don’t control. They don’t have their own thoughts and generally follow a strict set of instructions.

People who live life on NPC mode simply go through the motions. They have little ambition and are unaware of their thoughts and beliefs.

2. Observer

Observers understand that their thoughts are like a river. They watch feelings and emotions flow and know these thoughts are fleeting.

The observer, however, still gets sucked back into their own mind and occasionally forgets to zoom out.

They can’t always change the state of their emotions, but they understand it will pass.

3. Transcendent

This is when you have a permanent thought shift. You don’t just observe; you embody.

This is the mindset where one knows their thoughts and feelings come and go. They can step in and out of the constant stream of emotions and learn how to respond to different situations.

They know what brings them true happiness and satisfaction.

Do you understand who you really are? Do you simply exist, or are you more than just your thoughts?

Quote of the week

TL;DR

• Shift your perspective on life with these tricks:

  • Avoid framing wins as losses

  • Zoom out

  • Don't make hasty judgments

• The three levels of awareness are:

  • NPC

  • Observer

  • Transcendent

Thanks for reading!

If you have any questions, hit me up on Twitter @sam_starkman, or feel free to reply to this email!

— Sam