Distance gives you perspective. Bestselling author of Turn the Ship Around! former US Navy Captain David Marquet and psychology professor Michael Gillespie show you how to make better decisions by becoming your own coach.

Be yourself. Be fully present. Be here now. This is a message we hear constantly. But why is it that when we look at someone else we can see clearly what they seem blind to? Well, the reverse is also true. The truth is the biggest obstacle to making wise decisions for work and life is ourselves. Being immersed in our own self distorts reality and biases our decisions toward defending our previous actions and being consistent with our self image. An outside perspective sees us and the situation we are in objectively. We need to get out of our own heads, what we call the me-here-and-now self, and coach ourselves from afar. And we can.

Psychological distancing creates this option to become our own coach. We do this in three ways: self-distancing, spatial distancing, and temporal distancing. First, we can be someone else, inhabiting another’s perspective. This activates the neutral observer’s outside point of view. Second, we can be somewhere else, imagining ourselves from an out of body perspective. We see ourselves from afar, as just another person who is part of a larger context. Third, we can be sometime else, imagining ourselves as our future selves and thinking back to what we wish we had done today. In each case, we can coach ourselves once achieving a distanced perspective. The result is a powerful and immediate reframe of how we see ourselves, our situation, and what we should do.

With compelling scientific research, business cases, and personal stories, Distancing shows us how to reduce anxiety, see more clearly, and make better decisions for ourselves and for our organizations. The tools in this book are rarely used, yet available to all of us and they don’t cost a thing.

David Marquet graduated top of class from the U.S. Naval Academy and commanded the nuclear-powered submarine USS Santa Fe. Since retiring from the Navy, he has worked with businesses globally as a leadership consultant and speaks about Intent-Based Leadership around the world. A highly sought-after speaker, his clients include Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, professional sports teams, business schools, and governments. He is the bestselling author of Turn the Ship Around! and Leadership Is Language. His books have been translated into 15 languages.