Are Your Blind Spots Holding You Back? 4 Tips to See Your Way Clear

Have you ever wondered why it sometimes feels like you are doing everything that you can think of in your business and working endless hours, simply to look back at the end of the year and feel like nothing has really changed? Or why your competitors seem to keep going and growing, even though they’re facing the same issues as you?

If that sounds like you, you’re not alone. In my line of work as a business coach, it’s something I hear from owners of small businesses and big businesses alike. Let me share with you a perspective that might make things clearer.

Imagine, if you would, that everything that could possibly be known in the universe is represented by the below grey circle…

Then further suppose that all of the things that you know are contained in the blue wedge. This wedge could include thing like: your name, how to calculate your profit, your wedding anniversary… hopefully all of those!

 

Now, consider that the orange represents the things that you don’t know – but at least you know that you don’t know them, right? For you this may include things like: how to speak Portuguese, the 14th Australian Prime Minister, my favourite colour…

The remainder of the circle is comprised of all of the things that:

a. We don’t know, and

b. We don’t even know that we don’t know it!

When the things in this area directly relate to us or our business, we call them blind spots. When we are stuck in a rut or have been trying in vain to achieve an elusive result, I can tell you with absolute certainty, the solution exists in this grey area – In one of your Blind Spots.

What can we do to help identify Blind Spots and even grow from them?

The impact of having blind spots affects us all and presents as frustration! Although, I prefer to focus on the impact of identifying our Blind Spots.

I can tell you that in my professional career coaching businesses, all of the most profound results in businesses that are spinning wheels or drifting come directly from helping business owners and executives identify their blind spots.

Just like when you’re driving your car and you didn’t even know that motorbike was there, sometimes we need to do a head check. Here are some key tips that I use with my business coaching clients to identify blind spots in themselves or their business:

  1. Start by mixing it up! Any way that you can! Maybe you can take a different way to work for the next week, swap jobs with one of your staff for a day, try a new restaurant, support a different football team for a round… Too far? You get the idea.
  2. Invite someone that you know and trust to give you an honest appraisal. Find someone who can be a sounding board; you’ll be surprised at just how much difference it makes to ask for help on this.
  3. Free yourself from the past and open yourself up to the future. Move past “the one that got away” or forgive to let go, call a shunned friend or family member or even write them a letter (you never have to send it).
  4. Ask new questions. More often than not, unlocking an answer is simply about asking the right question. To discover some new questions, download the Tenfold 5 Minute Business Health Check and let it open up a whole new world of possibility for your business.

Once you become aware of your blind spots, it’s easier to check them and drive a clear path to the outcome you want.

Onwards and upwards!

Image Credit: Always Check Your Mirrors cc by Ross2085 (contact)