5 Powerful Questions to Identify Your Own Blind Spots

That’s just the way I am.  Most people move through life seeing themselves as a fixed personality; no choice, no alteration, done deal.  But the way we see ourselves is hardly that.  Self-concept is formed by early interpretations around what happened to us as well as agreements with what others told us; both positive and negative.  It is actually a created identity, but it gets established at such an early age, it is usually unconscious to an adult.  So it shows up in, “That’s just the way I am.”   This identity has brought you to where you currently are in life.  It has served to help you make sense of your world and has been your method of survival.  It usually lurks in your blind spots.  And it is this way of being that is causing the experience you’re having in life.

One of the most powerful books on transformation for personal and professional performance available today is Straight-Line Leadership by Dusan Djukich.  In it, Dusan describes one’s way of being as the inner stance.  It is the mindset from which we view and perceive life; it is the position we operate from and determines how we show up in our world.  Inner stances can be empowering or disempowering, and we can operate from multiple inner stances throughout the day; take ownership one moment and play the victim the next.  They are created, either consciously or unconsciously.

“Where you come from determines the actions that you take in life and the actions that you don’t take in life. Your stances will always be the keys to your castle or your jail cell.”—Dusan Djukich, Straight-Line Leadership

It is through mastering our inner stances—identifying them, releasing ones that don’t work, creating ones that do work—that we become conscious creators for our own lives. This is the foundational “being” work that all “doing” is built upon. Flashy doing on top of faulty being is a recipe for disaster. But empowered being generates impactful doing every time.

Consider that this is why two equal people can outwardly do the exact same action, but generate very different results. For example, reading a blog on creating a great life. Reading it from an inner stance (way of being) that is afraid to risk generates more stuck-ness; nothing changes, except growing frustration. Reading it from an inner stance that embraces risk generates stepping into the unknown and having something new, something that wasn’t there before.

This holds true for experiences. What is the difference between those that thrive versus those that despair in the midst of tragedy, pain, loss, etc? Inner stance. What is the difference between those that flourish versus those that self-destruct when abundance and advancement come their way? Inner stance. It is the foundation of our way of being that determines how we literally bear life. Jesus distinguished this between the man who built his house on the rock and the man that built his house on the sand. They both heard the words of Jesus.  They both went through difficult times.  But one thrived while the other was destroyed.  Internal condition is crucial. 

So to start this work of identifying your own blind spots—your ways of being that have been with you so long that it’s hard to distinguish them—here are five powerful questions to ask yourself.  Time to put on your big boy/big girl britches.  These questions are only for those ready to take full responsibility for their lives.

• Where in my life am I stuck, frustrated, struggling and/or complaining?
• What decisions have I made that created this?
• Who am I being/have I been that this is so?
• What outcome would I like instead?
• Who must I be to generate that outcome?

You now have a new possible future to live into.  Who will you be?

To Your Great Life!

Becky