Rick Torreson uses the driving blind spot as a metaphor for areas in your life you can't see yourself. Ego, denial, and insecurity create these gaps. The fix: find trusted people who know you well enough to tell you the truth about what you're missing.
So welcome back, everybody. Thanks for being a part of our community. Today. I want to talk about blind spots. One of the very first things they teach you when you're learning to drive is to pay attention to your blind spots. My first cool car, man, it was a two door 1975 Malibu classic. Big engine, dual exhaust, wide track tires. Everyone knew when I was coming, man. Blind spots were everywhere on that car, though. It's a two door and I couldn't see a thing, you know, but when you're 16, you don't worry much about blind spots. Those are those air behind you, and I wasn't planning on worrying about the people behind me. Oh, to be young and foolish again, right? What exactly is a blind spot? Blind spots are those areas that are so close to us that the rear view mirrors can't pick them up. Have you ever tried to pass another car or change lanes on a highway? And you check your mirrors and you don't see anything. So you start to change lanes and then you get blasted with this horn, right? It startles you. It causes you to almost run off the road and you swerve back into the lane that you started in, man. Blind spots are real things, and they can be pretty scary if you don't know where they are. The problem is most of us don't like checking our blind spots. I never like checking my blind spots on my Malibu because I had to practically turn my entire body around and twist my neck until it hurt to see those areas that my mirrors couldn't see. In other words, I had to get out of my comfort zone to turn my head around to ensure that it's safe to make the necessary turner or change in direction. Blind spots. Those areas where our view is obstructed. Those areas outside of what makes us feel good, comfortable and familiar. And not only are there blind spots in cars, there are blind spots in our lives as well. And if you're not careful, they can be just as fatal as the ones on our cars. We all have those places where our view is obstructed in our lives, don't we? There are places of familiarity. They're places that have existed so long you don't even know they're there until we get hit. That's why they call it being blindsided. There's a lot of reasons we may have blind spots, right? Here's a few things that can cause our view to be obstructed and create blind spots in our lives. The first one's ego and pride. What do they say? Pride comes before the fall. The other is self denial. These places we know are there but refuse to admit for fear that we might be seen as weak or not capable. Then there's those blinds spots from our emotional insecurities. And these are real things, right? Companies are talking today a lot about emotional intelligence, and they're dealing with the emotional intelligence of their employees. EQ is all about how we deal with our emotional insecurities and how those insecurities impact how we control and express our emotions and how we handle interpersonal relationships in the right way. Now, the insecurity often comes from our mindsets and what we believe about ourselves. Now, finally, blind spots can come from a lack of focus. A lack of focus happens when we are unclear about where we are going or our objectives and our purposes. Here's the thing about blind spots. And now this is key. They are only seen by other people. If you could see your blind spots, they wouldn't be blind spots, would they? That's why we need blind spot mirrors on our cars and in our lives. In life, we don't have blind spot mirrors. But what we all need are blind spot relationships. There are two keys to having having healthy blind spot relationships. If you don't have them, you need to be intentional about establishing them in your life. Blind spot relationships involve people you trust and you have given permission to speak into your life. We need this both personally and professionally. Now, healthy blind spot relationship needs to be able to do two things. Are you ready? First, they need to know you well enough that they can recognize the warning signs and identify the blinders that you've put up in your life. Those areas that could cause a roadblock to your future. These are people who have known you and they know your strengths and weaknesses. They know your vision and your values. They recognize when you're struggling and when you're going through hard times. The second thing is blind spot relationships need to be able to share the truth in love. These relationships have no agenda. They help us stay the course by pulling back the blinders, right? And exposing the lies and the deceptions that can derail relationships and our business. They can't have anything to gain by helping us. Those are true relationships. So let me ask you, who in your life is helping you to reveal your blind spots? What blind spot relationships do you have? Here's what I know to be true. What you choose to ignore becomes a blind spot. By opening your awareness, allowing people to challenge your thinking and sight, you expand your vision and you grow your influence and your impact. My friends, I want to thank you for continuing to be a part of this community and for continuing to challenge yourself, to grow yourself and to expand your perspective again. My name is Rick Torreson, and I'm believing your best is yet to come.
