27 Apr When was the Last Time You Uncovered a Blindspot?
Why you should uncover your blind spots more frequently
Uncovering our blind spots consistently is one of the sure ways to increase our self-awareness and grow continuously.
- What is the latest blind spot you recognized?
- Who or what helped you uncover it?
- Going forward, how do you plan to leverage your discovery?
Spoiler alert! Your growth comes from what you don’t already know.
What you already know brought you this far. If you want to go to the next level, you need to tap into the unknown, what you don’t yet know.
Though I’m not uncovering as many blind spots as possible and more frequently, I try to discover some of the strengths I’m not leveraging and some of the things that sabotage me.
Of course, there are many things I know are my weaknesses or limitations. Whenever I’m persuaded that a blind spot hinders my progress, I do something about it. However, some I recognized weren’t worth my time and effort.
Sometimes, people give me feedback about these few areas I already have self-awareness, directly or indirectly. For those who care and are interested in listening, I explain why I don’t want to change them.
The reason I’m not making many efforts to act on those few blind spots is simple: They benefited me. I’m so aware that others don’t like these ‘weaknesses’ of mine. As far as I’m concerned, I won’t do anything significant, though I may adjust to accommodate others around me who may be affected by these ‘limitations.’ That is emotional intelligence: Understanding how you say and do may affect people around you!
On the other hand, some limitations are too expensive to deal with. I must act aggressively to overcome them because they may distract me from what is important, so I don’t bother changing them.
Here is the truth: Whether I act on a weakness or not, I would like to hear the opinions of others. I don’t want my blind spot to affect others without my knowledge.
Recently, I had a phone conversation with a long-time friend. We were friends where we grew up. Then we got disconnected. We both went our separate ways living in different cities and then countries. After years of separation, we accidentally reconnected and exchanged our numbers.
In the phone conversation, I admitted that I didn’t do enough to stay connected. Though he was so generous and blamed both of us for the disconnection, I insisted on taking the lion’s share of the blame.
I’m writing this blog because, in this conversation, my friend mentioned something I didn’t know.
He ‘accused’ me of having unrealistic expectations of myself and others, including him. He wondered: “I always wondered why you strove to make me run a marathon while I settled in life to run a hundred meters.”
This is a blind spot because I didn’t know how I appeared in the eyes of a good friend.
Regardless of how deeply I respect and love my friend, I won’t change this blind spot I came to recognize.
“Why?” you may ask. It’s simple: Growing constantly and inspiring people around me to grow consistently is one of my values. It matters to me the most. Not only do I want to stretch myself and the people around me, but I also desire to be around people who stretch and hold me accountable.
For instance, I enjoy it when a colleague, boss, trainer, coach, or mentor stretches me. I hate when someone slows me down, let alone tries lowering my bar.
The point is, even if you think you already know your strengths and limitations and are free of blind spots, you want to ensure you don’t harbor blind spots as you communicate, relate, work, and partner with others.
You want to know how others perceive you and how your words, actions, and reactions affect them, even if you may not want to deal with some of the so-called ‘limitations’ that affect others.
In conclusion, you want to increase your awareness consistently. Self-awareness increases the more you uncover your blind spots. Your progress and future destiny are highly dependent on what you don’t yet know.
Getting the feedback of others is one of the ways to uncover what you don’t know about yourself. If necessary, don’t just ask for feedback. BEG!!!
If you would like to empower yourself or your team in this regard, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team at [email protected]