Thinking method · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Change the frame of the problem
Deliberately widening the time and scale you are viewing a problem at. When something feels larger than you suspect it is.
Free — no account needed to read
Deliberately widening the time and scale you are viewing a problem at.
The steps
- State the problem as it feels right now.
- Restate it as it will look in a month. Then in five years.
- Restate it as a stranger watching would describe it.
- Ask what is genuinely lost in the widest frame, and what was urgency rather than importance.
When to use it
When something feels larger than you suspect it is.
What it will not do
Some things are as bad as they feel. This is a check, not a dismissal.
Where it comes from: Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. Described in our own words.
The module it belongs to
- Reflective Thinking — Examine your own reasoning