Blind Spots

Do you ever think about your blind spots?  The beliefs and cultural norms that you have that may hold you back from doing things?  Do these beliefs, tacit or not, conscious or not, hold you back or limit your thinking, your productivity, your actions or your ideas?

I'm certain that they do.  We all have our blind spots, our innate beliefs and cultural norms which, in a different light or from an objective viewpoint may look strange or silly.

A good example of this is elephant training.  To curb a young elephant and to assist in training, it is common to put a cuff on the leg of an elephant and attach that cuff via a heavy chain to a stake in the ground.  The cuff, chain and the stake limit the elephant's movement.  What happens over time is that the elephant learns that if he has a cuff on his leg, he can't move that leg.  What trainers learned over time is that they can count on the elephant not moving the leg even when the cuff isn't attached to a heavy cable.  Some psychologists call this condition "learned helplessness".  As long as there is any resistance on the leg, the elephant won't pull on the stake.  Most elephants don't even bother to experiment with the leg anymore.  Talk about a blind spot!

What have we been trained to accept, or overlook?  What cultural norms hold us back from doing more than we could?  Do you have a virtual cuff around your ideas or your business process that keeps you doing the same things over and over?

Starting today, question the stuff that gets in your way, the cultural things, the "things you should know" that limit your thinking or your productivity.  It may be a bit hard to do, since so many of these barriers and behaviors are learned and become almost unconscious.  Think about what you do and the barriers to your productivity.  Question why these barriers - conscious and unconscious exist.  Don't be chained down by virtual ropes.

Comments

[Raoul Duke]

'Starting today, question the stuff that gets in your way, the cultural things, the "things you should know" that limit your thinking or your productivity.'

Great advice, but if other people can't handle that behaviour you are going to be even more frustrated. That's how I've been for ever, and then I had to go and read The Design of Everyday Things years ago which only served to bring out even more of that quality in myself. Thus I find my stress levels through the roof even more often.

Sweet!