Ego distortion and blind spot discovery: a key strategy for personal upgrades
/By Duncan Anderson. To see all blogs click here.
Reading time: 7 mins
Summary: Each unit of growth you do normally is part known, part ego distortion and part blind spot. Systematically finding and addressing ego distortions and blind spots is a core strategy for self improvement. Finding 1-5x new ego distortions and / or blind spots as part of a 6 monthly work performance review I’ve found to be extremely valuable.
“Any year that you don’t destroy one of your best-loved ideas is probably a wasted year.”— Charlie Munger
"Any year you don't find 1-5+ new ego distortions or blind spots is probably a year wasted." - Duncan Anderson
Finding out about new Ego Distortions and Blind Spots normally makes one wince
Each unit of growth typically consists of the following three areas:
1. Known = You know the area you have grown and have a fair understanding of.
2. Ego Distortion = You know about the area of growth but your understanding of it is meaningfully distorted from reality.
3. Blind Spot = You are unaware of this area of growth.
I usually don’t find it nice discovering new Ego Distortions and Blind Spots, but as you are doing them anyway it’s best to find out about them ASAP!
Jingle: You have nothing to fear from the truth… but that doesn’t mean the truth won’t hurt!
In fact, I think you want to fear not knowing things you should know. IMO you definitely want to know about your Ego Distortions and Blind Spots. In this instance, ignorance is not bliss, ignorance is the precondition to drive ‘full speed into a brick wall’.
How a process can be to find new Ego Distortions and Blind Spots
Have process to get feedback from others to provide you with the ability to discover new Ego Distortions and / or Blind Spots
See below for more detail
But at a minimum I think in your 6 monthly formalised reviews you want to be finding 1-5x new Ego Distortions and / or Blind Spots.
*Wince* …. (But don’t whinge)
Synethise feedback from others to ascertain fair and reasonable newly discovered ego distortions and blind spots
Have a plan upgrade for any newly discovered ego distortions and blind spots (details below)
++++++++++++
Details
Three types of growth: 1. Known vs 2. Ego Distortion vs 3. Blind Spot
I think it’s almost impossible not to grow, it’s more a matter of if you are growing fast or slow.
Basically every time you think, you have a conversation, you read an article or watch TV you are growing your mind.
To not grow would involve doing nothing. No thinking, no talking, no consuming any content.
A MECE I have for the types of growth possible:
1. Known = You know the area you have grown and have a fair understanding of. My rule of thumb is that this is 50% of one's growth.
2. Ego Distortion = You know about the area of growth but your understanding of it is meaningfully distorted from reality. My rule of thumb is that this is 25% of one’s growth.
3. Blind Spot = You are unaware of this area of growth. My rule of thumb is that this is 25% of one’s growth.
Normally, every time you grow you do a unit of ‘1. Known’ growth, a unit of ‘2. Ego Distortion’ growth and a unit of ‘3. Blind Spot’ growth.
If you knew about your ‘2. Ego Distortions’ and ‘3. Blind Spots’ they wouldn’t be ‘2. Ego Distortions’ and ‘3. Blind Spots’, they would be ‘1. Known’.
I think you want as much healthy growth as possible
To have healthy growth I think you need to have proactive strategies to find ‘2. Ego Distortions’ and ‘3. Blind Spots’. IMO you can’t find these easily yourself, you need tools to point them out to you.
Some strategies I find helpful in discovering your Ego Distortions and Blind Spots:
Strategy 1: Do 6 monthly feedback with 3-5x people who work closely with you
What I’ll mainly be focussing on in this blog. Details below.
Strategy 2: Diverse Reading
Strategy 3: Post Game Analysis - an essential tool for improving life
Strategy 4: Building personas and then trying to see how they view the world.
Detail for “Strategy 1: do 6 monthly feedback with 3-5x people who work closely with you”
Some broad questions I ask to try gather feedback (this is normally more questions than I ask people to answer but thought I’d put more in):
Output of mine that was strong?
Output of mine that wasn’t so strong?
Something that went well from a people management perspective?
Something that didn't go well from a people management perspective?
The best part about working with me?
The least best part about working with me?
How can I be better to work with?
Any relative strengths I have?
Any relative weaknesses I have?
How have I changed for good and not so good in the last 6 months?
When I find out about new ‘Ego Distortions’ and ‘Blind Spots’ normally I wince
Here is a well known grief cycle
And here is the GRASP feedback model
I find that finding out about new ‘Ego Distortions’ and / or ‘Blind Spots’ follows a similar pattern.
Denial / Defence Mode => Feels not nice (wince)
You may find yourself disagreeing with the feedback or picking holes in or even trying to point blame at or resentment towards the person giving the feedback
‘No that’s not right because…’ ‘I was only trying to help and they didn’t understand’, ‘Well that’s because they…’
Acceptance => Bottom in feeling bad
‘OK maybe they do have a point on X’ ‘Yes, even though I was well intentioned I can see how I did X’ ‘I agree I do need to work on X’
Build plan to upgrade => Feeling much better
‘How can I improve X’ ‘I can see how this is improving my X’
Automate new behavior to be subconscious (Automaticity) => New improved base level of enjoyment.
How did I ever not do X from the start’ :)
Another model: you are doing the ‘Unconscious incompetence => Consious incompetence => Consious Competence => Unconscious Competence’
Finding new personal Ego Distortions and / or Blind Spots is finding new areas of ‘unconscious incompetence’.
I’ve come to believe that wincing can be wonderful.
Wince = Find out about new Ego Distortion / Blind Spot
Wonderful = Build in new automatic / subconscious upgrade to no longer have the Ego Distortion / Blind Spot
When you find out about a new ego distortion or blind spot you can react in one of two ways
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Thoughts on a plan to upgrade an Ego Distortion / Blind Spot
Here is my standard approach for a plan to address a newly discovered Ego Distortion / Blind Spot = 1. Upgrade Spreadsheet + 2. 1-3x Post Game Analyses each week + 3. Systematic Monthly Checkins + 4. 6 Monthly Review
1. Upgrade Spreadsheet - Something you personally do to manage yourself. I’ll normally update this 1-3x times per day.
2. Post Game Analysis - Done with others, normally I’ll do this 1-3x time per week.
3. Systematic Monthly Checkins - Done with your manager monthly
4. 6 Monthly Review - Done with multiple people (3-5x) every 6 months asking questions similar to above.
If you only take away one thing
You’ll likely always be developing new Ego Distortions and Blind Spots.
I used to systematically try to upgrade. I didn’t use to systematically try and find Ego Distortions and Blind Spots.
Improvement = 1. Add upside + 2. Remove downside.
Avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance. We often focus on trying to be brilliant, yet many great people get far more mileage out of avoiding making stupid mistakes.
"It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent." - Charlie Munger