When we were very young, everything was new, amazing and sparked our curiosity daily. As the saying goes: “Those were the days!”

I write those words a bit nostalgically, but within a hopeful context of refreshed vision. We grow up and, unfortunately I think, often grow out of seeing remarkable things as “new” for the first time; it’s understandable and does have certain practical advantages. Collective experiences and acquired knowledge enhance our ability to survive, thrive and contribute; as we add those same things to our “Bucket of Life”, however, they can also weigh us down. The heavier the bucket gets to carry, the less we’re able to look up and see what’s truly happening around us.

We do possess an ability to see something familiar as “new”, for the “first time”, if we will only shift our mindset from toting that bucket to setting it down for a bit and seeking out a fresh vantage point.

“What, you say? This is my stuff! If I set it down, someone may steal it!”

The truth is that your personal bucket is not going anywhere; you collected it and the contents will always belong to you. So don’t worry; it’s safe to set your bucket down; no one else will steal it, nor can they, because they are carrying their own around all of the time.

If you’re open, or willing, to seeing the world around you from a different perspective, one of the best ways is to walk with a child as she or he explores and sees things for the first time. The beauty of this approach is that their bucket weighs very little early on and, hopefully, the adults around them will help carry what they collect. That frees the mind of a child to collect all they can gather up while they continually ask you “Why”? (Answering that question provides a reason to inspect what’s in your own bucket!)

In order to capture new perspectives of a familiar scene, it’s crucial to change your line of sight and vantage point.

Venture high, venture low, venture wide or venture anywhere beyond the view from your own front porch, because Seeing Comes From Seeking. The ability to do that is what separates visionaries and leaders from others; they continually seek to view their world from new angles and through the eyes of a child.

Tempus Maximize!