Which is the biggest segment?
There’s basically three sectors to the pie chart of our lives, the smallest one, is what we know (for example, we know where we live, or how to do a Z report) The second sector is what we don’t know (and we know that we don’t know it.) For example : I know that I don’t know how to speak Chinese, or how to fly an aeroplane.
We could all list lots of things that we don’t know !
But if you notice on the picture, the biggest sector by far is the left hand one, which represents what we don’t know but we don’t know that we don’t know it !
So what does that mean?
Well, it means that for us and our businesses, there are many things that we know that we don’t know but because we know that we don’t know them, we can go and seek them out and learn them if we needed to – in order to improve our businesses.
For example we might know that we don’t know accounting very well, but as our businesses get bigger, we realise that we have to have a basic knowledge, so we enrol on our course. We knew that we didn’t know it, so we could take some positive action around it.
But, what of the biggest segment – What we don’t know, and we don’t know that we don’t know ! Hidden from our view in this segment are all the things that hold us back. They’re very difficult to get to, its kind of like spinning around and trying to see the back of your head, almost impossible and it makes you kinda dizzy, but if you could get inside that segment, everything could explode for you!
How to do this without the aid of psychotherapy?
Ask an honest friend?
Because the stuff that holds us back, very often isn’t a lack of knowledge on excel spreadsheets, or the failure to pick Billy the fish as the seasons top seller, its something a bit deeper than that ! You can train for those things. Its our own deeply held beliefs about ourselves, that we very often don’t even realise that we hold.
But although they’re invisible to us, others can see them, as they come out in the language we use and our view of the world…..
So, if you’re brave enough… and they’re a very good friend…. and you trust them….. Ask an honest friend !
