It’s not the world you live in that determines your fate, it’s the outlook you have about that world that allows you to either go for your dreams or resign yourself to feeling “stuck”. I watched the above video and although it discusses perspective from that of an advertising exec, it definitely applies to writing and more broadly to life itself. Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group, humorously discusses how perspective changes the way we look at things, everything from not looking like a weirdo at a party all by just adding an electronic cigarette turning you from geek to chic to how people would probably pay double at toll booths for an express lane if they thought the extra money was going to charity and not just lining the pockets of bureaucrats.

In reference to writing (which is what my blog is predominantly about), I think perspective is an integral part of the creative process. You want to create a cool, carefree protagonist? Got to use perspective to make him that way. Just imagine trying to convince your audience that your James Dean-esque main character is cool without putting him in a leather jacket and torn jeans. Now for those of you screaming at your computer screens saying, “But what about the nerd protags that can be the hero as well?” Sure, and quite frankly they’re my personal fave in writing and real life, but the point is to create a character most would consider “cool” and that doesn’t normally come with a set of Buddy Holly glasses and acne. You need to set a scene of creepiness and foreboding, got to have the right perspective in order to do that. If I put my 12-year-old female main character in a field of daisies with the sunlight emblazoning the scene, I’m not sure you’re going to get that I want that scene to evoke feelings of dread and terror. Unless of course you have a fear of daisies in a brilliantly-lit field, which is not normal by the way, but no judgment

Anyone who considers themselves a fairly basic writer knows that you have to maintain the correct perspective in order to convey your overall message to your readers but I shared this video because it was a different way to think about perspective and that how we look at something truly does affect our emotions about it.