You know what’s funny? The way we humans can so easily see all the stupid things other people do—but have absolute trouble seeing our own stupid errors. Even if our errors are right smack in front of our nose. Or right smack on our nose … or cheek.
For example, if you have a problem with a smear of ink being on your nose or cheek, you won’t be able to see it yourself. The only way you’ll know about it is if someone else tells you. Ditto if you have a problem with being too damned cheeky at meetings. You won’t know unless someone tells you.
The harsh facts of life: you must be willing to face the truth about how you must grow as a person if you hope to grow your income! In the very same way Jim Collins says facing harsh truths helps a company go from good to great—from Tandy to Apple, say, or from Commodore to Microsoft—you will go from a good moneymaker to a great moneymaker if you face your personal harsh truths. Because being great makes more money than being good does. This brings us to a very important Golden Touch Rule:
Always Seek Criticism as Much as Compliments
Success is not just about recognizing what you’re fabulous at and doing more of it. It’s also important to recognize your weaknesses—your blind spots—and do less of them.
Madeleine L. Van Hecke, PhD, author of Blind Spots: Why Smart People Do Dumb Things, explains that for the very same reasons you can read this gobbledygook below, you will also be destined to repeatedly do dumb things.
Readable gobbledygook: Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. the rset cn be a taotl mses and you can siltl raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and i awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!if yuo can raed tihs psas tihs bolg on.
Could you read that? Most people can. An adult’s brain has built-in beliefs about how words should be—and so the human brain fills in the gaps with what it already knows. Similarly, an adult’s brain has built-in beliefs on a great many subjects—and tends to quickly fill in missing gaps of knowledge with what it already knows—naturally seeking to find a familiar order in all chaos, thereby seeing known spots of information instead of blind spots of information.
