How To Overcome Your Blind Spots To Spark Change In Your Life
Ever felt like you have everything you need to make an important change in your life, yet there’s something that’s stopping you?
Whether it’s quitting your current job to explore a new career, letting go of a relationship that doesn’t serve you or starting that dream project, all important decisions in our lives require us to change some aspect of ourselves to bring forth the new.
However, one of the biggest barriers we face while creating this change is an invisible force, an inner resistance that holds us back.
In the words of the legendary writer Steven Pressfield, the author of multiple books like The War of Art, The Artist’s Journey, and Do The Work,
“Resistance by definition is self-sabotage.”
— Steven Pressfield
Steven knows a thing or two about resistance — it took him 27 years to publish his first novel and he didn’t start earning as a writer until he was well in his 50's.
Resistance to change often feels like an internal battle that is raging between two versions of ourselves — the new self that is waiting to be born and our old self that is fighting it hard.
This internal battle manifests itself externally in a number of different ways;
- Procrastination
- Finding excuses
- Wasting time
- Avoiding
- Finding distractions
- Blaming others
- Feeling “stuck”
- Lacking motivation
However, in my personal experience as a coach, of helping numerous clients facilitate the most important changes in their life, I have observed that at the heart of any change, lies a blind spot.
Becoming aware of your personal blind spot helps you overcome your internal resistance and create change with greater ease.
What is a blind spot?
Each one of us has a physical blind spot — it is the small circular area at the back of our eye that is not sensitive to light.
But we also have our own behavioral blind spots — the aspects of ourselves and others that remain UNSEEN to us unless someone brings it to light.
And this is what I believe is my primary role as a coach — to observe my client’s blind spots and help them become aware of it, so they can create the change they truly desire in their lives.
Becoming aware of your blind spots often comes down to exploring this question deeply;
So, what is really stopping me, right now?
When you explore this question further, I have observed that it often leads you to what Otto Scharmer, Senior Lecturer at MIT refers to as the four blind spots of learning;
- Not recognizing what you are seeing
ie; delusion - Not saying what you are thinking
ie; inexpression - Not doing what you are saying
ie; inaction - Not seeing what you are doing
ie; indecision
These blind spots then become distinct voices in our head that make change even harder for us;
- The Voice of Judgment — the self-critic that prevents us from listening to our intuition and expressing ourselves freely without overthinking and overanalyzing our decisions.
- The Voice of Anger — the that blames everyone else for not making progress on what we want to do.
- The Voice of Fear — the monster that ties us to our chains of inaction and grows exponentially, the more we choose to feed it.
Becoming aware of your personal blind spot and the primary voice in your head is often the first step of overcoming resistance.
Following it up with experiences that help you embed this learning is the crucial next step.
I have observed time and again that the moment I’m able to bring my clients’ conscious attention towards their blind spots, their voices of judgment, anger, and fear either grow softer or disappear completely.
And then, creating any change becomes more joyful, more fulfilling, and more exciting.
What is the most important change you are facing in your life right now? Which of these 4 blind spots do you wish to overcome?
I’d love to help and support you through this change.
Drop me a message on my Instagram handle and let’s talk
