What Blind Spots – Who, me?

“I don’t know who discovered water, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a fish.” — Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) Media critic & writer

This quote speaks to the idea that like a fish swimming in water, we are generally unaware of our surroundings. To take this idea one step further, the only time a fish IS aware of water is the moment it is taken out. Likewise, the first time we become aware of what might be missing in our practice is when it is NOT working as well as has before.

Being an insider can work against your ability to solve problems, simply because your ideas are limited by your perspective about how the financial services business should work.

These “blind spots” can cause you to become jaded, and therefore closed, to fresh ideas or workable solutions you have rejected on the basis that “I’ve seen it all before”.

Here are three conditions that suggest you may have your own blind spot in your practice…

1. you are disturbed about a persistent problem keeping you from growing your practice
2. your attempts to solve it have been unsuccessful
3. you cannot see another solution
4. you are certain that you are right

The more persistent the problem, the more disturbed you are about it, and the more right you are, the bigger the blind spot,,,want to know how to solve this?

Something to try:

1. Sit down with a sharp person from another industry.
2. Describe the details of a practice goal you are working on  (include your challenges).
3.  Ask them to point out opportunities you might be missing.
4.  Switch it up and do the same thing for them.
5. Recognize that someone else can often see the opportunities/challenges in front of you a lot easier than you can.

Want to learn more? Check out “Blind Spot Removal for Financial Advisors”