🌳 Expand Your Perspective: 🔑Discover the Power of Big Picture Thinking for Goal Growth and Wellbeing

See the forest for the trees.

You can't see the whole forest if you are focused on each individual tree.

Hyperfocus and overconsumption of the details, clutter clarity and often lead to anxiety and stress due to an inability to see a situation clearly. Some call it big picture thinking, others call it zooming out, and the psychological term is construal level thinking. Whatever you call it, this skillset is innate to some but, like any skill or tool, can be learned by others. I believe that practicing this skill in your personal and professional life can be a great tool for your mental health toolbox. This edition will give you the what, why, and beginner's steps to hone this skill and gain clarity on how you can use it effectively in your everyday life.

TIME TO READ: 8 mins

You may have heard of the phrase "zoom out" or "think more big picture" in a professional setting or even in the movies. The ability to think about events that extend beyond the immediate context is one that many might take for granted. A common question I often get is, what does it really mean and why does it matter?

Here’s a quick background on the term and, as a professional woman, how this ties into sustainable mental health.

"Zooming out" or "big picture thinking" originates from a theory called Construal level theory (CLT). CLT proposes that we do so by forming abstract mental construals of distal objects. Thus, although we cannot experience what is not present, we can make predictions about the future, remember the past, imagine other people's reactions, and speculate about what might have been. Predictions, memories, and speculations are all mental constructions, distinct from direct experience. (Source)

“Central to understanding CLT is the idea of psychological distance. Psychological distance refers to the removal of an object or event from direct experience – what is happening to me in the immediate here-and-now. Events can differ in degree as to when (time), where (space), to whom (social distance), and whether (hypotheticality) they will happen. The qualifier "psychological" in the term "psychological distance" refers to the idea that the mind treats these different dimensions of distance in a mentally similar manner. For example, although time and space may be very different types of information, CLT suggests that we treat them interchangeably.” (Source)

Big picture thinking or high-level construal skills allow you to take a concept, situation, or problem and look at it from a different point in time, which requires you to take a different perspective. It is the ability to survey from a high level, think of the term "seeing the forest instead of the trees."

The benefits of high-level construal thinking are:

• It allows you to anticipate obstacles.

• It helps you see the end goal or a more distant point in the experience so that the details can be filled into it.

• It removes the micro details that often bog down the brain.

• It allows you to create a broader vision for the situation vs. a vision for the next thing.

• It fosters creativity and innovation.

Some people are more high-level thinkers, while others (like myself) tend to be a bit more detail-oriented thinkers. Neither is better than the other as it relates to a skill; both are needed when it comes to moving through a project. For someone who is a more detail-oriented thinker, being able to have access to and deploy this skill can be useful in creating well-rounded thinking.

"Zooming out" or high-level perspective thinking and visioning require a level of calmness and clarity of the mind. This is why prioritizing mental health and well-being is so important.

If you are a detail-oriented thinker, a big question could be, how do I begin to develop this skill if I don't know where to start?

First, you may already have this skillset without even knowing about it. I'm a detail-oriented thinker but not 100%, as I also am driven to the end goal. So, that means that for many, you may already use this skillset.

For others who struggle with it, here is where I would begin:

• Start to look at parts of your life where you may have perfectionist or hyperfocused tendencies.

• Take one of them and think about what you want to accomplish, not looking at the minute details of each step.

• Start practicing visioning something that you want in the future at a 20,000-foot level. Since your brain hasn't been there at that exact moment in time, it encourages you to create it as a concept first and then fill in the details. The better you can get with moving in and out of those will strengthen the skill.

• Practice calming the mind through breathing, meditation, movement, music, etc. Hyperfocus thinking may clutter the mind and make it more difficult to move to big picture thinking, and having a decluttered mind allows more big picture thoughts and concepts to flow in with more ease.

• Mind mapping is an active pen-to-paper (or computer or tablet) way to associate concepts in a visual way. I personally struggled with learning how to do this because I was focused on the complexity of advanced tools, but this won't be you because instead, you are going to start with the basics of the exercise.

This is a skill that I'm actively working on practicing, specifically the ability to move back and forth from big picture to detail thinking. I find that when I focus on decluttering the mind, I'm much more successful at it than when my mind is focused and filled with bits and pieces of steps and to-do's.

You may not have connected big picture thinking to a skill that can create another tool for mental health stability, but in fact, it is important.

So when in doubt, zoom out.

I’m all about intentional quick actions (even if they aren’t perfect). Quick start actions help to build your muscle for planting seeds and building habits and tools that serve you.

A curated collection of some of my favorites tools, people, videos, articles and resources to help you kick start your own toolbox. It’s all about finding what works for you.

Videos

5 Ways To Develop Big Picture Thinking

How To Become A Big Picture Thinker; The Secret To Thinking Big!

Articles

Sometimes you just read something that sticks with you. Below are some articles with great tools and strategies, many of which I have used and some of them I use today.

How to Develop Big Picture Thinking in 5 Science-Backed Steps- Although not perfect this is a good starting point list of characteristics that make up detail oriented vs. big picture thinkers and tips on how to sharpen big picture skills.

Big-Picture Thinking: How to See the Big Picture in Projects

Big Picture Thinking and Zooming Out: Why We Need It and How to Develop It- Sonya Looney writes about wellbeing and performance. She also happens to be a professional athlete and podcast host. She provides a great blog article on understanding more about big picture thinking and how to develop it.