I said in my last post, “What if you honest to God cannot believe or conceive that you have anything to offer?” Well, now it’s time to discuss your psychological blindspot.
Psychological blindspot
Some times, what you have to offer really is outside of your conscious awareness. This is what is known as your psychological blindspot (a concept that is explained in the graphic “Johari’s window” below).
If you’ve ever had numerous people compliment you on something and thought, “They must be trying to flatter me because there’s no way that’s true” then there is a chance this “characteristic” is in your blindspot. That is, it’s not known to you but is known to/observed by others.
Imagine this. You’re driving down the highway and recognize your exit is coming up. What do you do? Do you quickly glance at your side mirror and then immediately change lanes? Definitely not! Why? Because any good driving teacher would have warned you that you have to turn and glance at the lane next to you just in case a car entered your blindspot—that point in your side mirror where you can’t see a car coming.
If you forget everything else you’ve read today, don’t forget this. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not recognizing your positive skills that are in your blindspot. Others can see them but you cannot. Sometimes, it’s because you’re not really looking. But at other times it’s because you need just a little help bringing those things that are outside of your conscious awareness to the forefront.
To help bring this point home, let me share a story I briefly heard on a sermon by the phenomenal Dr. Tony Evans.
One day, a guy named Curtis decided that the best way to get the money he needed was to rob a bank. After visiting the bank, he decided on a date and time; but the night before the robbery, he dropped by his parent’s house. Unbeknownst to his parents, he entered his dad’s bedroom and “borrowed” his dad’s gun. The following day, Curtis held up the bank and stole $6,000.
Due to surveillance, law enforcement officials were able to quickly capture Curtis. While taking the gun into evidence, they recognized that the gun was a limited edition semi-automatic made in 1918. It’s value: $100,000. And just in case you were wondering, no, your eyes aren’t deceiving you.
Curtis robbed a bank and got away with $6,000 while using a gun worth over 16 times that amount.
The moral of the story is that Curtis didn’t know just what he had in his possession. So he chased something less, and missed out on the more he already had in his possession. So please, do yourself a favor: don’t be a Curtis.
What are some of the positive qualities/skills that others have said you have that you have a hard time believing? Is it possible that this quality is in your blindspot?
