Reframing

In my experience this is a second by second job!

Date:   9/13/2005 5:30:34 AM   ( 19 y ) ... viewed 1398 times

No, this is not instruction on how to build your house again. Reframing is a term that implies the ability to see things, problems, situations or people in new ways. To imagine a computer keyboard with a new layout is to reframe the expected. To travel in England and experience driving on the "wrong" side of the road, is to reframe our normal experience. To conceive of one's life with no desire for retirement is to reframe our normal way of thinking. There is a story of the Peruvian Indians who, seeing the sails of their Spanish invaders coming in from the sea, attributed it to a mirage or a freak of the weather and went about their business. They had no concept of a sailing vessel so they screened out what did not fit their limited experience. Rather than reframing their experience, they chose to let their own disaster approach unhindered.

To think of your job as 2,000 hours of work in a year rather than 50 weeks of 40 hours a week opens up the opportunity of reframing. To recognize that you may be able to do some of your work at home, in a lake cabin, or interspersed while writing a book or being an effective parent, provides a reframing option.

Just this week, a client with whom I am working proposed a new choice in response to being offered a teaching position in interior design. Yes, they still want 40 hours a week minimum but she will be going to campus only 3 days a week for two semesters and only 2 days during the summer. She can use some of her time for her own professional practice and attend the professional organizations of her choosing. They will be funding the industry-related research she has wanted to do for a long time and have given her a generous allowance to decorate her office. This in addition to a "full-time" salary package. This is reframing a "normal" opportunity.

How can you "reframe" your work and life? Rather than feeling you have a diminishing ability to contribute, perhaps you could see yourself as moving from "energy" to "wisdom," or "high tech" to "high touch," thereby increasing your value.

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