A guy I know lost a friend who may have lived had he NOT worn a seat belt in a side-collision car accident. Although data shows that 99% of the time seat belts save lives, he refuses to wear a seat belt because he’s zoomed in on his friend’s freak accident.
On an emotional level, if we think big picture and view our current hardships as small dips on the ups-and-downs graph of life, we may avoid the dramatic view that life is terrible now and from here on out.
Zooming out is an enormously useful skill that’s not just for CEOs. It leads to practices that could save our emotional, or actual lives.