Who would not like to see what is around the corner? If we were cameras, we could just change our perspective, and we would be able to see around the corner. Of course, we can change our positions as well. The most helpful thing we can do with our minds is to change our perspective. In many cases, all we need to do to solve insurmountable problems is to change our perspective. Empirical research from positive psychology and cognitive neuroscience are chuck full of results that tell us that changing the way we see the world, just a bit, can make significant differences in our quality of life, our health, our work, and our relationships.

Many of us do many things every day to shoot ourselves in the foot, and I am no exception. Up until about two months ago, there was a story I told myself that was not true. My whole life, I’m almost 50, I had been telling myself that I sucked with names. I sucked with names! I would meet someone at work, at an interview, or a party, and a few minutes later, I would forget their name. I told myself, “It’s just how my brain works.” It was so bad that I kept a list of all the people I worked with next to my phone so I could look them up as needed.

Then, in my quest for self-improvement, I finally read Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” It blew my mind! In what felt like another lifetime, during my very brief Amway experience, some folks tried to get me to read this book, but the title put me off. In my naive youth, I did not understand that all of us try to influence each other all the time, which is not really what the book is about. As a result of reading the book and following its practices, you will make more friends and be more influential, but that is only because you will be a nicer, more considerate person.

Shortly after reading the book, I was in Kuala Lumpur on vacation and staying at a guesthouse. I decided that I was going to try to remember everyone's name that I interacted with. It was a great guesthouse, and I went on a few group outings that day. I hung out with ten people and could remember all of their names! For the first time in my life, I was good with names! Me! I still remember 4 of them. And the only thing that changed is my perspective. I’ve done this with several other things I thought I was terrible at now, and I’m convinced that I, you, that everyone can learn and be good at whatever they are willing to put effort into.

Changing perspective has so many other possibilities to make our lives better. Changing from a pessimist to an optimist will increase your health, earn you more money, make you happier and result in better relationships. It will even lengthen your life! If someone cuts you off in traffic or exhibits some other sort of public behavior that you find offensive, make up a good excuse for their behavior in your mind instead of thinking the worst of them. Doing this will diminish any resentments you might have and help you let go of any anger you feel. In fact, compassion for someone going through something bad will leave you feeling good. And since you are likely never to find out the reason for their behavior, you might as well choose the response that serves you best.

Learning to be more flexible in our thinking, to see things from other’s perspectives, and changing our perspectives gives us more control over one of the only things we are in control of in our lives, our minds. So why not look around the corner?