The Complete Picture: Zooming In and Out to See Where You Want to Go in Life

If you want to get a more “complete picture” of where you are in life and where you want to go, it’s important you know how to zoom in and zoom out your perspective.

By “zooming in,” I mean narrowing your focus to a small scale. Focusing on what you are thinking or feeling in the present moment is one way of zooming in. For example, what are you thinking and feeling right now? How do you feel about the current state of your life?

By “zooming out,” I mean broadening your focus to a bigger scale. You can think of your life outside of just the present moment, but also in terms of “days” → “weeks” → “months” → “years” → “decades” → “lifetimes.”

Generally, the more you “zoom in” the more clear and concrete things are, and the more you “zoom out” the more abstract and fuzzy things are. But both perspectives are necessary to develop a “complete picture” of your life.

In fact, “zooming in” and “zooming out” is one type of cognitive reframe – a way of looking at your life differently, by seeing how things unfold at different time scales. It’s one of the most powerful types of reframes in my experience, and it can be applied in a variety of different ways.

Let me show you how I use this type of reframing.

Zooming In: Days and Moments

Every life is built moment-by-moment, day-by-day, week-by-week.

Days

Our “daily routine” is a microcosm of our entire life and where we are going. One of the first self-improvement exercises I often recommend to people is: make a complete list of your daily routine (this exercise also includes a way of analyzing and assessing your routine to find possible changes to make).

Of course, each day is different and there are always variations and hiccups. But when you think of your life in terms of your “daily routine” the things you consistently do every day…what you eat, what physical activity you do, what your sleep patterns are, what your daily habits are at work, at home, with family, or with friends…you’re zooming in on what the average day looks like for you.

And this can be a great place to start when it comes to self-improvement. Because you can start to focus in on small habits and small changes you can make on a daily basis. And those small changes often lead to bigger changes overtime if you can be consistent.

Moments

We can “zoom in” even further on our days by focusing in on individual moments. This includes developing mindfulness, your ability to be more focused and aware of what is happening in the present moment.

This may seem obvious, but a lot of us don’t pay much attention to how our life unfolds from moment-to-moment. However, if you can step back and zoom in, you can begin asking yourself, “What am I doing right now? Is it effective? Is this the best way I can spend my time in this moment?”

Practicing a simple breathing meditation is the best way to cultivate more mindfulness. But keep in mind that it is ultimately a perspective that you can bring with you in any given moment.

You could also create alerts on your phone or computer to nudge you into the present moment. When an alert happens, you can take a step back, take a few deep breaths, and reevaluate what you’re currently doing – like a quick 10 second “micro-meditation.”

Once you’ve “zoomed in” on your individual days and moments, you can also try “zooming out” to larger time scales, such as weeks, months, and years.

What would you like to accomplish this week? What would you like to accomplish this month? What would you like to accomplish this year?

These are questions you should have a rough answer for. Foresight is a very underrated aspect of success, but most successful people can see at least a few steps ahead before taking any action, like a good chess player.

One exercise I recommend is to create a “progressive timeline” of your goals. In this exercise, you focus in on what goals you have for the day and then “zoom out” to goals you have for the next…

• Week
• Month
• Year
• Five Years
  

• Decade

None of these goals are set in stone, but this is a great way to begin thinking more toward the future.

I just re-visited my timeline earlier this year and I made quite a few changes to it. Your vision of the future will never be crystal clear, so be willing to adapt.

Pay particular attention to how your “daily routine” and “progressive timeline” overlap. Zoom in and out. Are your daily activities in harmony with your long-term goals?

This is very important to keep in mind and re-evaluate on a frequent basis.

The Past

Just as you can “zoom out” to look at your future, you can also “zoom out” to look at your past.

While you can’t change your past, “zooming out” on it can often help put your life into perspective. One of my favorite reminders is, “The only time you should ever look back is to see how far you’ve come.”

When you “zoom out” on your past, it reminds you of all the things you’ve been through and survived. We’ve all come a long way. We are all different now than we were one year ago, five years ago, and ten years ago…we’ve learned and grown a lot.

This is a healthy perspective to remind yourself of. Especially when you are struggling in the present, looking back on your past can become motivation to keep going forward. You didn’t travel all this way to quit now.

Both “zooming in” and “zooming out” play a key role in getting a fuller and more complete picture of your life and where you are going.

There’s no single perspective that is “better,” but our ability to shift our perspective when needed is where the real power is.

According to a new study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, those who manage to balance “living in the moment” with “planning for the future” are best able to weather daily stress without succumbing to negative moods.

Overall, “zooming in and out” is a careful balancing act, but when you realize how to use both perspectives, you can greatly improve the quality of your life.

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