Just ONE Thing
The Blind Spot That’s Costing Your Shop More Than You Think
Episode 236
with Rick White, 180BIZ
Good morning. My name is Rick White from 180BIZ.
We’re a coaching and training company for the independent auto and truck repair shops. This is my Just ONE Thing.
So what I wanna talk about today is a SCOTOMA. Let me give you an example of what a scotoma is, what it is—a mental blind spot.
So I wanna give you a situation that has actually happened to me where I went to the kitchen looking for the ketchup. I went to the fridge, opened it up, and said, “Where’s the ketchup? I can’t see the ketchup. I can’t see the ketchup.” So I was going into the fridge and I couldn’t see it. There’s no ketchup in here.
There’s no ketchup in here. And then Brenda is like, “It’s in there.” And I’m like, “No, it’s not.” And she walks over right in front of me, and right on the shelf, she grabs it and hands it to me.
So what that is is a scotoma. A scotoma is a mental blind spot. What it does, a scotoma or this mental blind spot, it hurts you. I’m gonna show you why, because I’m gonna challenge you. What if the biggest thing holding you back is something you can’t see? Think about that for just a second.
It’s a blind spot in what and what you think, and we all have them. These are not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of being human. A scotoma is a blind spot created by belief.
And what is belief? Belief is simply a thought you trust. That’s all it is. Doesn’t make it real. It’s just a thought you trust, and the more you trust the thought, the less you question the belief. So these beliefs, what they do is they hide opportunities and solutions, and you don’t see people who could help you.
Because your beliefs filter them out before you even notice. So this is really huge. A scotoma is simply a repetition of a thought until it becomes a belief, and then what it does is it creates this mental hypnosis. It’s just the things you tell yourself over and over again.
There’s no good help out there. No one’s buying. I’m terrible with technology.
When you say these over and over again, they create blinders and a focus. They become your filter. And here’s the thing—once you believe with certainty, you stop looking for anything that counters that thought. You don’t question it, and that becomes an issue.
So let’s talk about it in hiring. There’s no good people out there, or no one wants to work anymore.
What about sales customers? They only care about price. It’s just about price. Nobody’s buying because of the economy. Nobody’s buying because of the political unrest. Nobody’s buying.
Or how about in leadership?
If I want it done right, I have to do it myself.
Like every one of those statements—they sound like facts. These are actually blind spots. So I need you to understand that these are blind spots, and they’re created by what you’re saying over and over again.
The reality is that these matter because you can’t fix what you can’t see. And these omas, what they do is they limit your ability to innovate and get creative. They hurt your culture and kill your confidence.
When you start to see these things over and over again and create these blind spots, you start to feel like a victim, and they hurt you.
See, when you change what you believe, you change what’s visible. You get to see what’s possible, and that’s what’s amazing about this, right? You change what you can see and what’s possible.
I wanna give you a really simple framework on how to deal with scotomas or blind spots.
Number one, you gotta catch it. You gotta listen for yourself. Listen for something you say frequently, and you wanna listen to things that have what I call global qualifiers, like always or never, or can’t or won’t. This is really important. Catch these statements.
“There’s no good texts out there.”
That’s a belief, not a fact. The fact is there are good texts out there. They’re just not working for you. Awareness is the first step, because you can’t challenge what you don’t recognize.
Josh, I’m really glad to hear this is helping, man.
The first thing you gotta do is catch it.
The second thing I want you to do is question it. Write these down. Catch it. Second thing is question it. What if that’s not true? Ask yourself, what if this isn’t true? Is this real?
Who do I know that proves this wrong?
These are questions that create doubt in the blind spot, and that’s what you wanna do. You want to question your beliefs all the time. And the stronger the belief, honestly, the more you should be questioning it.
Because as we grow, as we age, as we mature, our beliefs are gonna change. Our worldview is gonna change, hopefully for the better. Hopefully, as we become wiser, we’re able to question these things.
So you wanna question them because that interrupts what they call the belief loop, and it gives you some room to introduce new evidence where you can say, “No, this isn’t real. There are good people out there.”
So the first thing we’re gonna do is catch it.
Second thing we’re gonna do is question it.
And then the third thing we’re gonna do is replace it.
So instead of saying there’s no good help, what I want you to do is reframe it with possibility. “Hey, there are good people out there. I need to create the shop where they want to work.”
Instead of saying, “I’m bad with technology,” which I hear a lot, which scares me honestly when I hear a shop owner say, “I’m really bad with technology.”
You’re working with rolling data centers today.
What I want you to say instead is, “I’m learning tools that will make my shop more efficient. They’ll help me become a better leader.”
The goal here isn’t to have blind optimism, because that doesn’t work either. That’s delusional. This is all about accurate vision.
Understand that scotomas, they’re invisible until someone or something helps you see them.
And that’s why one of my favorite quotes is, “You can’t read the label when you’re inside the jar.” You’ve gotta get somebody to help you see what you can’t see.
And here’s the amazing thing about this. Once you do, your entire game changes because you start seeing opportunities, not creating obstacles. I wanna say that again—because you start seeing opportunities and you stop creating obstacles.
Everybody, I just wanna say thank you for being here. Please share this video. I guarantee you there’s somebody out there that needs to hear this, so please share it.
If this is interesting to you, we have our Pocket Business Genius Webinar series. And then the last thing is our Shop Owners Roundtable. Believe it or not, it’s not gonna happen until January now, second Thursday in January.
Thank you for the video. I gotta tell you, I held it together pretty good until I saw that damn video. My sweatshirt looked like a tissue. There was so much just blaber all over it.
So thank you guys. I really appreciate it.
I wanna remind you about our shop owners round table. We would love to have you in there.
So what are your blind spots? I want you to step back and pick one belief that you have right now that’s holding you back.
So you’re gonna catch it, right? You’re gonna question it, and then you’re gonna replace it.
Okay, everybody, have a great week. Happy holidays to everybody. Happy Hanukkah. I think this is a great time of year.
I want you to have an amazing week, and I want you to go out there and go make some money.
I’ll talk to you all next week. Take care. Merry Christmas, everybody. Bye-bye.
