Entrepreneurs just can’t be everywhere at once, no matter how we wish it were so.
We do everything we can to move our business toward our goals. And yet sometimes we miss seeing the messages that can keep us from a detour or backslide.
Humans make errors. We make errors of fact and errors of judgment. We have blind spots in our field of vision and gaps in our stream of attention. Sometimes we can’t even answer the simplest questions.
Gary Wolf
Behaviors such as lack of focus, lack of clarity, refusing to delegate, the need to control, or advocating personal prejudices create blind spots that can have an extremely negative effect on your business.
It never feels good when a situation seems to change and shift from “out of nowhere”. So how can you avoid blind spots and get back on track when we make a misstep?
Practice Flexibility
Nurture new ways of thinking and taking action. As time passes our responses become more and more automatic. While this saves us energy, the hardening of the mental pathways can do us a disservice in the face of the faster, more frequent changes in our world, particularly in our business worlds.
Practicing trying new foods, taking new routes, meeting new friends are just a few of the ways outside work we can teach our brain to stay fresh.
In the work environment, we can place a value on education, learn new skills and tools, challenge ourselves to try new ways of accomplishing our tasks.
One of the best ways to keep our brains young and observant is to keep our body moving in new ways. Any movement that crosses the midline or moves us in new ways will also encourage youth and flexibility in the brain.
Expand Your Emotional Intelligence
The more automatic choices we make the more we run the risk of experiencing a blind spot. So practicing making conscious choices increases your ability to remain aware of any possible repercussions your choices may spark. It also helps you make brand new choices never made before that can nurture new results (of the kind you want) that you’ve never had before.
But to make conscious choices, you must be aware of your unconscious and default patterns. These are often seen when we react to emotional triggers. You know, those things your children, bosses, and spouses say or do that “make you crazy”. Even seemingly small things can set you off and you react in a way that makes it hard to make new, good, or even just plain different choices and actions.
This is where investing in growth in skills that help you manage your emotional inner life can really prove a boost!
When you can catch the moment you get triggered and act reactively, you are better than half way to making new choices. When you know the old belief or conditioning that causes the triggering, you’re almost home free.
And when you’ve determined the new choice and/or behavior you want to install instead, you are really cookin’!
Get An Outside Eye
We all need help without blind spots. Coaches, mentors, and experts are not immune. 🙂
Napolean Hill introduced the idea of a Mastermind in the 1920s and the concept is even more widely accepted and used today. Gather the best minds available to you, and use the various perspectives represented to eliminate blind spots and gain a better chance of success in your efforts.
If you have a known blind spot (something that catches you by surprise, despite your best intentions) every time then it’s time to get some more targeted help. Get another pair of skilled eyes on the situation. Make sure it’s someone who knows how to listen—who understands the change process and what you need to create a shift in your ability to see what’s really going on.
Eyes Wide Open
I hope I’ve helped you see that it is seldom what we’re looking at or where we’re looking that blindsides us. Often it’s what’s closest that sparks an explosion.
The small suggestions I offer here can help you foster the ability to be more aware of what is, and more able to make deliberate choices when a situation goes sideways.
Need more help? Keep an eye open for upcoming information about my Living Fearlessly Mastermind. You can speak to me here.