Retrospectives are magic.

Because you have the direct, in-the-arena experience and knowhow, but you can take a breather to reflect / synthesize / learn / grow from that experience.

You're with the tiger in the arena, about to die. You slayed it. Now you're safe, you can think about it.

What would you do differently next time?

How could you avoid being in the arena with a tiger in the first place?

Instead of leaving the arena to get a different vantage point from the balcony (impossible and dangerous in the moment), you go up to the balcony after the fight is over.

Being able to look at a situation from the balcony is about a different longer term vantage point. That can happen in space or in time.