Subjectiveness By Dr. Tony Alessandra

Subjectiveness means seeing everything from strictly your own perspective. "This is the way it looks to ME." And that's the only way you can look at it. The versatility aspect here is the ability to see things from other people's perspectives. A classic situation of differing perspectives exists in companies that are organized into rigid departments. They often don't communicate well with one another.  

Subjectiveness is reflected everyday in statements such as: "Anyone who can't see that we need to do it this way is an idiot!" "I won't accept anything less than a ten percent decrease in this budget." And similar statements that make the point of view expressed the ONLY possible point of view.  

This negative trait of subjectiveness is related to the trait of rigidity. In rigidity, the person is unwilling to consider any other point of view. In subjectiveness, the person is unable to do that because he's stuck in his own.  

There's a famous old eastern parable that you might have heard about five blind men and an elephant. They were each asked to describe this beast and one said: "It's like a tree," as he held on to the elephant's leg. "No, no, an elephant is much like a piece of cord,” said another. The third said: "I think the elephant is most like a python." And so on.  

Of course, each one had only a piece of the picture. It's easy to see that if they could share each other's perspective, they'd come up with a whole picture. And that's the advantage of getting past your own subjectiveness. We tend to get stuck in limited and partial views of people or issues. We don't make the effort to "get another camera angle" on the subject and so we make decisions, or have relationships that create problems. Having only one way of seeing things automatically means having problems with someone who has a different perspective. Those kinds of problems could be avoided when we accept that there's more than one viewpoint on almost every topic under the sun.  

But we're back to HOW does one let go of being solely subjective? First of all, it's fine to have your own viewpoint. The task is to make the distinction between viewpoint and reality.  

The reality is that the baby spilled the milk on the floor. Your viewpoint may be that this is a mess that you have to clean up. Someone else at the table may think it's quite funny, or quite cute. And the cat thinks it's a wonderful turn of events. You can help your versatility in situations a lot by realizing whenever you have an opinion or reaction; it's only one possibility. Don't confuse your viewpoint with the reality of the facts. It's a liberating feeling to realize that what you thought was reality was simply your point of view and THAT can be changed.  

You may say you're willing to see things from other people's perspectives, but CAN you do it is the question. You might try practicing on an issue that you feel strongly about. Abortion. Gun control. Capital punishment. Universal health care. Can you really articulate the argument of someone on the opposite side?  

In more mundane matters, when you find yourself in a verbal tug-of-war, try this line: "Now, let me see if I understand your perspective. What you're saying is..." and finish it with an honest attempt at capturing the other person's viewpoint. The more often you're able to change camera angles, to separate facts from strongly held emotions, to articulate the opposite of what you believe, the more you're exercising your versatility muscles.