Column

A lot of our clients are talking about Thomas Friedman’s book The World Is Flat. It’s about globalisation and a leveling of the playing field by emerging economies. Excellent book. The title made me think about a totally different topic, though: the value of perspective.

The world isn’t flat — the world is small. Here’s the point I’m trying to offer: We live on a small planet in a gigantic universe. Stephen Hawking, the famed physicist, said that we are on a minor planet of a very average star in the outer suburb of one of a hundred billion galaxies. And we are just one among billions. Are the problems we face really so big? A little dose of perspective makes life easier to manage.

A question I sometimes ask myself when I’m facing a struggle is this: “Will this matter a year from now?” If not, I move on. Another question I invite you to share with your team or your family is: “Has someone died here?” If not, things settle down and calmer minds generally prevail. Keep perspective. Most problems we think are disasters turn out to be blessings, in hindsight. I’ve faced things that seemed painful at first but with time those evolved into the very things that made my life better, happier and more rewarding.

My guess is that the same holds true for you. So do some inner work around perspective today.

Focus on the good. Smile and laugh more. Life is short, and the world is small-but it’s also really, really wide.
— Robin Sharma is the author of The Greatness Guide