More Perspective on Perspective

Knowing when to see the forest versus the trees.

People are fond of saying things like: “She has no attention to detail”, or “He’s absent minded.” But maybe the person in question is just looking at the situation from a different perspective.

If you plan on driving across the country, having detailed maps of every village, town, and city along your route is overkill and too much information for the situation. The opposite is also true, if you’d like to find “Benny’s Boutique” on the corner of 12th and Summerset, having an overview of the state and city showing only the major highways is going to be of limited use to you.

It’s all a matter of looking at the situation from the proper perspective. And knowing what perspective to use is helpful in accomplishing any goal.

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What’s the scale on that map?

I’m fond of orienteering and have written on it elsewhere – and one of the lessons I learned has to do with being aware of scale. One type of orienteering event uses a format called “Score-O”. In this type of event, instead of following a sequence of control points through the woods, the map given simply shows control points. Each contestant has the same amount of time (generally 1 to 3 hours) to get to as many of the control points as possible. Severe penalties kick in after the time limit has expired making it inadvisable to risk trying for one more control point if there is a good chance that you will not return in time.

If one has the speed and skill, it may be possible to reach all of the control points, and in the case of a tie, contestants are ranked by time. The map is handed out shortly before the start of the race, and one must plan a route optimizing the number of points that can be reached within the time. (If one knows it is not possible to reach all of the points, it may be advantageous to leave out some difficult or hard to reach points and get to more controls that are easier / closer together) Another tactic is to plan an “optional” run at the end to get to a control marker if (and only if) there is time remaining.

It seems that the first time I competed in one of these style events with my eldest son, the park we were in was a bit smaller than others. And so the two of us were able to plan a course that took us to each control marker well within the time given. We were proud of our accomplishment, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I must have noted “able to reach all 30 control points in 90 minutes on an 8 1/2″ x 11″ map”.

For the next several events of this type, we didn’t have as much success. We’d be approaching the halfway mark on our plan and our “time-is-running-out” warning beep would go off, causing us change course and head back pretty quickly. I was getting a bit frustrated – what was happening, why couldn’t we do as well?

And then I realized – somewhere in the back of my head, my mind had been tricked by that first success to think that we could make it to most, if not all of the control markers. Why – because they were all printed on 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper – even though the scales were completely different. And being able to cover a good part of a map that is at 1-5,000 scale is not the same as being able to cover most of a map that is at 1-10,000 or 1-15,000 scale!-) For those not wanting to do the math, there is four times as much area on the 1-10,000, and nine times as much on the 1-15,000…

Since that realization, I’ve tried to do a better job of checking the scale of the map and taking into account the skills and stamina of my teammates before estimating just how much of the course we can take on. This has helped and we’ve been happier with our results since then.

The big picture or the detailed view

In every endeavor you must consider both the large and small aspects. Some people get stuck at the wrong scale. A garage sale is a great place to haggle over inexpensive items. It really isn’t going to break the bank (for either side) to get fifty cents for a stuffed animal instead of a dollar. By the same token, it doesn’t make sense to counter an offer to purchase a $100,000 house with a $100 difference.

The skill is in making sure that you choose the right level to focus on.

Think, and Ask Questions

The tired line about assuming is really a call to consider things instead of jumping to a conclusion. Does X make sense given the larger context of the situation? Is Y a reasonable goal given the detailed elements underneath? Think about the scale of the situation – perhaps seconds are less important when the deadline is measured in weeks, and maybe getting it just right this time is critical when the event won’t happen again for years.

When you come across a situation that doesn’t make sense, try considering it from another perspective, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll see the forest instead of the trees.