The Art Of Reframing
by Dr Eugene Sern-Ting Tan
The Power of Reframing
A powerful concept which has made a positive and lasting impact on my life is called reframing. I first learnt about reframing when I attended a motivational seminar when I was in junior college, and how I wished I had learnt it earlier! Since then, I’ve made reframing an automatic habit and it has opened up my life to exciting new opportunities almost every day.
What is Reframing?
Every person views the world with a unique “frame”. Just think of it as everyone wearing a different pair of lens and what he/she sees through the lens is unique to the individual. For instance, imagine group of people looking at a glass that is half-filled with water. Some people see it as a glass half-filled, others see it as half-empty. Some other people may not even notice the fill and are instead thinking of the content of the glass – whether it is tap water, boiled water, mineral water or some other fluid. There will also be people focusing on admiring the glass itself, especially if it is of a unique design. In short, there are many different ways to view an object/situation/person and everyone is right in his/her own “view-frame”.
Re-framing means changing our frame/perspective so that we intentionally see things in a different way.
How Do I Reframe?
The secret is to choose a frame that will give you maximum benefit. In essence, you should choose to see things in such a way that will motivate or empower you to take action, to overcome the challenge or simply to feel happy.
The following are 3 great examples of reframing from negative to positive:
Scenario #1
Property sales consultant gets rejected by potential client.
Old Disempowering Frame
He feels dejected and demoralised, and thinks either property is not good or he is lousy at selling. Hence, he finds it difficult to approach another client because he is afraid of being rejected again.
New Empowering Frame
He knows that on average, he gets 1 client to buy out of every 10 people he approaches. Typically, a successful sale lands him $5000 in commission. Hence, he chooses to see it in such a way that each person he approaches earns him $500 (even if it’s a rejection), and if he makes the effort to approach 10 people, he will eventually earn his $5000 (=10 x $500). This way of thinking motivates him to move on from one rejection to another, until he gets the sale.
Scenario #2
Student fails a driving test.
Old Disempowering Frame
He thinks he is a lousy driver. He may also think it is a waste of time and money to go for more driving lessons and to retake his driving test.
New Empowering Frame
He believes has the potential to be a good driver but he needs more time to be trained to pass his driving test. He sees it that taking more driving lessons will make him a better and safer driver. It is better to spend a little money and time on revision lessons and to retake the test to be a better driver, rather than drive unsafely and potentially get involved in a nasty road traffic accident in future that may cost him lifelong repercussions.
Scenario #3
Student fails a Physics test and gets the worst grade in her class.
Old Disempowering Frame
She feels that she “cannot make it” in Physics. She feels highly discouraged and is considering dropping Physics since she appears to be lousier than all her classmates in the subject.
New Empowering Frame
The fact that she is bottom of the class means that she can only improve and get better if she studies hard for the subject (can’t get worse than bottom!). Since everyone else is better than her at Physics, it means she will need to work harder than all her classmates in order to get better grades. She can approach her teacher for individual coaching after class if she has questions, and consider hiring a Physics tutor to guide her, just like most of her other friends who attend tuition classes. She wants to prove to everyone that she can excel in Physics, and is motivated to prove her doubters wrong. She is inspired by many “From ‘F’ to ‘A’ grade” stories and believes she can be one of them.
Conclusion
The most successful and happiest people in this world are all masters at reframing. Reframing is such an important life skill that I strongly encourage you to keep practising it until it becomes an automatic habit. This simple concept of reframing has changed my life for the better, and I believe it will do wonders for you too! :)
“If you don’t like something, change it;
If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”