When You Stop Looking, A Blind Spot Is Born.

Think of how a movie director
sees a moment for a movie.
The lighting is a factor.
Do we film in the morning or the night?
Are there birds singing in the background?
Or people screaming in the streets?

So the movie director
doesn't flop out on the set
turn the camera on
and hope for the best.

The script is the frame.
The director is making an attempt to combine
the words of the script with the actors
and the environment
and adapt and adjust to make it click.

Some elements won't listen to reason.
The movie director can't yell
at the sun for not shining on cue
and still stay employed or off meds.
Yelling at the actors isn't sustainable.
There has to be a constructive
response to what she sees.
Bad lighting might mean to change the cameras, change the film times or film a different scene that takes advantage of the lighting as it is.

That's a very powerful example
for how you can look at
your next steps on a project.
Or how you want a lunch meeting to go.

Your ability to perceive decides a lot.
There are some people
who are impressed with what they say.
There's a very real danger to this.

Have you ever walked somewhere
or driven somewhere
that's so familiar to you,
you barely noticed the walk or drive?

When you first drove there,
you might have been unsure.
Leaning heavily on your GPS or directions.
But then it became familiar.

At that point, you may
have surrendered your ability
to design anything new into that moment.
Could your unconscious
grab a ukulele and sing an insight
into your awareness? Sure. Maybe. I guess.
May as well buy a lottery ticket at that point.

If you're too comfortable, too "I know this already",
the chances that something new will present itself
are diminished.

Creatively, that's terrible news.

Two approaches for you to play with:
1. Choose your tone before you choose anything else. Example, decide you want to get along great at the meeting and you want everyone to feel good.

2. Look at the stuff you think you know. Review some key findings over again but look somewhere different. There are people who study certain rocks their whole life. These rocks are not changing that much in 20 years. Rocks are not getting divorced or drinking all night. They're. Just. Rocks.

But experts know how to
make the strange familiar
and the familiar strange.

The rocks stay the same
so their eyes have to change.

My job in life is to keep myself off balance.
It helps me to stop looking for life to match
some script in my head.

That's not comfortable for most people.
Which is kind of the point.

This is the crossroads of creativity and expertise.
Experts can point to patterns.
If the patterns are too predictable,
turn off the video game.
You want to also see
what is hidden by habits and boredom.

Toughest truth here?
The need to feel confident
can make you stop looking closely.
You don't want bad news jumping out at you.
I see that with so many people, it's scary.
Except with you, of course. :)

To really be advanced
is to let go
of thinking you're advanced.

The day you think you're ahead,
you're behind.

Aaaah! Being behind!
NOOOOOO!

That feeling of not wanting to be behind?
That's my point right there.

That feeling will do funny things
to what you see and do.

It's when you stop
seeing it altogether
that it can get really bad.

It's reversible - just not always fun.