By never backing up into the unknown, you can minimize the danger from blind spots and stay on your route to success.
Norm LeMay and Steven Kaufman
Ask any driver for a list of safety concerns and you’ll likely see “blind spots” at the top. A blind spot is an area where the view is obstructed, and that’s what makes them so dangerous. Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
We all want to believe that we look at life through clear, unbiased eyes. However, just like every one of us creates garbage, so too do we all have blind spots: places where we don’t see what’s really going on. These blind spots can be dangerous and cause havoc if we’re not careful. By taking cues from the garbageman and putting some safety procedures in place, we can help reduce the danger these blind spots pose and stay out of harm’s way.
What are Blind Spots?
Blind spots can show up in three areas: our own personality, our relationships with people and the places where we work. We see them when fear or pride blinds our potential and blocks our ability to see new ways of doing things. They are areas of weakness; places where we think or act a certain way but in reality, we’re being perceived completely differently.
We don’t say, “Oh, I know I have a blind spot.” For the most part, we’re unaware of what’s happening, which is why working with blind spots can be tough. They involve thoughts we don’t realize we have and actions we don’t realize we take. What’s more, blind spots can be very obvious to everyone else but us. This mismatch of our perception to the world’s reality is what makes blind spots the landmines that they are.
The garbage that makes up our blind spots is especially tough to dump. Getting rid of it could really shake up our world in ways we don’t want. Additionally, like the driver who’s vision is limited by his location, the time of day, and what he’s doing, new blind spots can appear depending on what place we are in at any moment in our lives. This creates something of a moving target.
How many times have we said, “Wow, I almost said something dumb” or “Thank goodness I didn’t follow through on that idea”? Those are close calls—the times when, for a split second, we become conscious of something in our blind spot and we slam on the mental brakes. Unless we’re aware of what we’re doing, we run the risk of more close calls—and the chance that we could cause a real wreck (see Figure 1).
Where Do Blind Spots Come From?
Trucks don’t have just one blind spot. There are several all around the vehicle. The same holds true for us. There are many types of blind spots that show up in our minds, in our relationships, and in our offices.
- The mind’s need for closure. Our brain doesn’t like inconsistency or open-endedness. It wants facts to line up with beliefs. If we think people can’t be trusted, we’ll look for reasons why people can’t be trusted. Any information that runs counter to that is labeled as an “exception.” This is known as confirmation bias, the tendency of the mind to bias information to fit our thoughts and views. Warren Buffet has a great quote on this: “What the human being is best at doing, is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact.”
- Habit/Reflex. We get so used to reacting or doing things a certain way that we gradually become blind to alternatives and new possibilities.
- Denial. Sometimes, shining a light on our behavior would have us see what might be too painful or uncomfortable to confront. In cases like this, we unknowingly turn a blind eye and keep ourselves in the dark.
- Fear. Change can be very challenging. It’s pretty normal to think about an area that needs work and suddenly feel a cold sweat and a knot in your stomach. As a result, we can develop a blind spot that steers us clear of that fear so we won’t have to deal with it.
- Being in a hurry. Blind spots can appear when the driver is in a hurry and doesn’t check his mirror or his backup camera. The same applies to us. When we’re rushing towards a solution or scurrying to reach a goal, we blind ourselves to different ways of doing things or danger signs along the road.
- Unflinching belief system. Believing in something is great. However, a belief can become so strong, it blinds us to anything but what we think is true.
- Laziness. Investigating whether or not we’re right about something can be exhausting and time consuming. Sometimes, it’s just easier to make it up. Remember: a garbage truck can bully its way into the next lane because it’s the biggest vehicle on the road. Sometimes, we do the same thing: unknowingly use our position or power to justify our own point of view it.
What are the Dangers of Blind Spots?
Just like blind spots can get a truck into real trouble, they can bring danger to us, to our relationships, and to our companies:
- Crash and Damage. Sometimes, blind spots have an immediate harm. Something mean or spiteful slips out of our mouth. We put a dent in trust. We mangle a process or create conflict. We don’t do these things on purpose. They happen because we’re not aware of what we’re doing.
- Injury. Our blind spots can harm innovation, creativity and freethinking. Relationships can be permanently altered. Confidence and faith can be broken.
- Expense. Blind spots can also hit your pocketbook. One of the biggest culprits is inefficiency: the failure to see the garbage in the way we do things. That can cost us time, create unnecessary cost, and chew up resources that could be used far more efficiently. Here’s the worst part: because we don’t notice it, we keep on doing it.
- Recovery.After a blind spot causes damage, it takes time to recover from the injury and expense. That can have a negative effect on morale, ingenuity and the goals you set for yourself and your company. Recovery delays growth and causes people to pull back on their hopes and dreams, often because of an unconscious gut feeling that something is out of whack—but we can’t quite put our finger on what it is.
The biggest danger of blind spots is their tendency to blindside you. Because they pull a shroud over the reality of what’s going on, you lose your situational awareness. You stop questioning money, relationships, and business dealings, thinking that you’re right and never getting any confirmation to the contrary. It’s like you’re a driver in a truck, looking straight out the windshield and never looking at your mirrors or your back-up camera. Eventually, you’re going to get hurt—and you’re probably going to hurt others, too.
How Do We Fight Blind Spots?
One of the best ways to uncover blind spots is to ACT, which stands for Aware, Choose, Toss. Once we become aware of thoughts and behavior that is hidden to us, we can choose not to engage in it anymore. At that point, we can toss it out of our mind and do something different. That’s where the breakthroughs happen and we’re able to stay on the route to the life and to the company what we truly want. Because blind spots are invisible to us, it takes a little more sleuthing to seek them out. Here are some tips to help you do that:
- Look for patterns.Do you find yourself asking, “Why does this always happen to me?” Does your department always get the same result no matter many times you do things differently? Do people get annoyed with you whenever you bring up a certain subject? These repeating patterns can be a real clue that you have a blind spot somewhere in the way you’re thinking or acting.
- Ask for feedback. Given the mechanics of blind spots, others are able to spot inconsistencies in our behavior long before we do. Take advantage of that. If you’re hitting your head against the wall and you don’t know why, ask a friend or colleague what they see. If that feedback is very different than the perception you have of yourself (“They say I’m stingy. I think I’m generous”), that’s a clue you might have a blind spot; in this case, in the way you manage your money.
- Know your culture. Do you work in a company where you defer to senior management instead of bringing up issues or concerns? Can you or your co-workers admit when you’re wrong, especially in the face of a strongly held company belief? Understanding the culture around you can help you uncover blind spots. Case in point: the number of Korean Airlines crashes between 1970 and 1999. As Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Outliers pointed out, many accidents were caused by co-pilots and engineers unwillingness to bring up issues they saw and instead defer to the pilot’s seniority and status—a common cultural trait in Korea. By changing this cockpit culture and encouraging everyone to speak up about safety issues, Korea Airlines greatly improved its safety record. Know your culture and the factors that can contribute to blind spots—and don’t be afraid to change them.
- Slow down. Don’t be in a hurry. Get another point of view before you act on something you’re unsure of—especially if it’s gotten you into trouble in the past.
- Question things. To fight confirmation bias—the mind’s tendency to selectively filter facts—don’t take life at face value. Challenge yourself and your beliefs. Examine what’s happening around you. Look for areas where you have strongly held beliefs and question them. The more you check in with yourself, the more likely you are to uncover blind spots (see Figure 2).
Stay on Your Route to Success
Blind spots can be dangerous. They can fool us into thinking the world is a certain way when, in fact, it can be very different. They can pull us off onto unproductive side trips and lead to unintended consequences. To combat them, act like a garbage truck driver. Assume the danger is there. Adjust the mirrors to pull into focus those areas hidden from us. Try out different behavior. By never backing up into the unknown, you can minimize the danger from blind spots and stay on your route to success.
Norm LeMay and Steven Kaufman, co-authors of the book The Garbageman’s Guide To Life: How To Get Out of the Dumps, are two guys who love talking trash. This Disposal Dream TeamTM knows garbage, how to get rid of it and how to clear your mind for success. For more information, please call (800) 806-0301 or email [email protected]. Â
Figure 1
Blind spots can come from a number of different places.
Figure 2
How to fight blind spots.
Images courtesy of The Garbageman’s Guide, LLC.