Failing to Notice

What are you failing to notice?

It’s a tough question. There is one obvious way in which we may be failing to notice.

Ask yourself, “What am I focusing on?” So much of what we are taught is about focus. And as our focus becomes narrower and narrower, we may miss the very information and situations that hold the key to moving ahead. Yet, we are taught to systematically ignore that which doesn’t fit into our focal point.

There is another, less obvious, way in which we may be failing to notice. In interactions with others you may be so focused on listening for particular information, that you miss what else is being communicated. The problem here is magnified by our sensory limitations. There is so much information coming from a speaker – words, inflection, gestures, body language – that we can’t track it all. When our conscious mind reaches its limits, the overflow of information spills into our unconscious minds. If something does break through to awareness, we are apt to dismiss it as a distraction, or maybe as just a whim.

In his book, “The Gift of Fear”, Gavin de Becker, the leading expert on predicting violent behavior, says that in most violent situations the signs of threat are there. However, most people have learned to ignore them. Fear is the way the unconscious breaks through to awareness – but many ignore the fear and still don’t see the signs.

As I have coached executives and consultants for more than 25 years, I have seen this “failing to notice” at all levels in corporate communication. Clients have been amazed to discover how much they had been missing when they spoke to others.

Now, even though you may be better at reading people than others around you, a lot of information is overflowing into your unconscious mind. The old adage says, “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King.” Yes, but he still can miss a lot.

So, what can you do about “failure to notice.”

One, you may be focusing and looking in another direction from the information you need. You might ask yourself, “As I focus on this, what am I likely to be missing?” You might find the answer is hidden just out of your current field of vision. Look the other direction and it may be in plain sight.

Two, we may be looking and listening and just not seeing or hearing because of the overload of our senses. How much might you be missing in conversations? What spills over into “out of awareness?” How might you speak differently if you had access to that information? Be sensitive to what your unconscious mind may be registering as you listen.

Learning to fill in the gaps of “failure to notice” is a key to not only “changing the range of what we think and do,” but also of developing effortless influence.

For more about how to fill in those gaps, check out “The Thought Leader’s Most Powerful Tool!”  http://bit.ly/2FroZW5