About twenty years ago when I was working as a management consultant in Japan, Google released Google Earth. Pulling together satellite and aerial images, the app allowed users to explore Earth as a 3D globe.

During that time, a colleague of mine was filled with excitement. He explained this was the very first time that people other than astronauts could experience seeing our planet from the outside.

At that time, I didn’t understand and couldn’t share his excitement from the perspective shift. Nor did I know that the feeling he experienced had a name. The overview effect.

According to Shortform:

Many astronauts have described a dramatic shift in perspective when they look back at Earth for the first time and see the whole planet, undivided by political divisions or national borders. Psychologists call this “the overview effect,” the feeling of awe and deep connection to humanity that astronauts experience on their first flights.)

(Side note: Here’s an excerpt of William Shatner’s book where he shared his experience of the overview effect when he went to space with Blue Origin.)

It was only last year where I learned about the overview effect. That’s also where I connected the dots. I finally understood the awe of my Japanese colleague twenty years ago.

Though Google Earth can’t replace experiencing overview effect in real life, it had made it accessible in a digital format for the rest of us.

For me, I think to be able to see Earth zoomed out from a different perspective, it serves as a reminder of seeing things in terms of the big picture. The image of our planet as a whole serves as a trigger to reframe my daily struggles at a bigger scale. Seeing the long game.

It’s also an invitation for me to step back. To consider what truly matters. Sometimes we need to take one big step back to see.