The Greta Gerwig Perspective

My client Ann — a brilliant executive who works with a nearly all-male team of leaders — and I came up with this super fun and useful tool that you can try on for size. 

It's called the Greta Gerwig Perspective. 

🤨 Is there a meeting you gotta attend next week with a particularly arrogant executive that's causing a bit of anticipatory stress or anxiety for you? (We've all been there) 

Have one in mind? Good. Now follow these steps: 

1️⃣ Take your arm out (either right or left doesn't matter) and extend that arm out away from you. Look at your extended hand. That is where you will now picture a small, rectangular movie screen. 

YOU are the director, cinematographer, film projector and audience.

You are FULLY in control of this film (or like a 3 second Instagram reel, if that's more of your thing). 

2️⃣ Picture that future meeting with so-and-so executive as a scene in that imaginary screen. 

🎥 Imagine panning the camera WAY out and above, so you’re filming down, capturing the tops of people’s heads.

3️⃣ When the camera pans past the head of that problematic executive, queue…

Clown 🤡 music.

Sillier the better.

And if you have trouble imagining music in your mind, see if you can visualize that particular scene in black and white, or old-time-y scratchy greyscale.

By doing this, you're engaging your prefrontal cortex, causing neurons in your visual cortex to fire. 

According to Scientific American, mental visualization can help your brain create more connections among different regions. 

Call me a weirdo nerd, but to me, it's so cool to think about my brain lighting up with new connections, because it reminds me that I have the power to change my brain, my habitual reactions, my responses, my results. 

But I digress. 

Let's get back to the scene.

4️⃣ Check in with yourself. You might notice yourself having bit more ease, as the anger or frustration dissolves to a more neutral feeling, from this "above-the-fray" or "above-the-nonsense" perspective. 

You're already a rockstar, so good at what you do. It's time for you to be unflappable. 

Try the Greta Gerwig perspective. 

And if you want to be equipped with tools for self-directed neuroplasticity turbo-charged with proven self-advocacy frameworks -- so you can navigate, negotiate and RISE above the fray of office politics, I can help you.