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The legend Zig Ziglar had us do an exercise in a seminar years back.
Here’s how it went.
He asked us to stand up and put our hands behind our backs.
Then he said, “Without looking, describe your wrist watch.”
He wanted us to think about all the details – roman numerals or numbers, face colour, band description, did it have a second hand, logos, etc.
Sounds easy enough, eh?
Well, then he said, “Okay, everyone, now look at your watches” and there was loads of laughter in the audience.
So many were inaccurate with the description!
But that wasn’t the end.
Then he asked us to put our hands behind our back again and asked one more question: “What time is it?”
Aha – we see through our awareness
Zig made us become consciously aware of what our watches looked like but we didn’t further our own awareness by taking in more details, like the time! Most people in the several thousand member audience admitted they didn’t “see” the time.
Ever notice that when you get a new car it seems there are a lot more of them driving around your neighbourhood?
The number of cars likely didn’t change but your awareness for them did.
So the big question is, “What are you paying attention to?” (or if I were to be grammatically correct, “To what are you paying attention?” )
You’re limited to seeing only what your level of awareness allows. Increase your awareness and you see things differently.
The problem is we don’t know what we don’t know, right?
Here’s the trick
Think of one thing you want more of. Then find someone who has it and ask for a few mentoring moments. What they’ll likely share is their awareness. Sweet!