Mental Tunnel Vision
We were on a road trip recently and stopped at a rest stop. I stepped up to the sink in the bathroom and there were two buttons. Hmmm, I wanted the water, but which button? I pushed the first button, but no water came out. I pushed the second button and voila, water appeared from the faucet. Then I needed the soap and figured that must be the first button. As I was getting my soap, I realized that soap had come out the first time and was now on the sink, but I was so focused on getting water I didn't see it come out. It got me thinking about having tunnel vision, or how we can focus on one thing and not see the other things (or potentials) around us.
For example, let's say your car breaks down. You have at least 3 options -- fix it, replace it, or do without it. So, you decide to, just for fun, go to a car dealership and look around. You tell yourself, I am not going to buy, I am just looking. The salesman offers you to sit in one of the cars, so you slide right in. You smell the new car smell, you look at all the nifty gadgets on the dashboard and the salesman offers you a test drive. Sure, it won't hurt anything to do a test drive. So you take it out on the road while the salesman extols all the virtues of that model. Not only that, the car comes in your favorite color. Excitement runs through your veins as you start wondering if you could afford a new car. When you get back to the dealership numbers start getting crunched -- how much interest are you eligible for, what would be your monthly payments? You know why they don't want you to walk off that lot without your signature? Because your excitement is causing tunnel vision. If you leave, you may not come back. Why? Because the excitement wanes a little, allowing the other options to come to light again.
So next time we have a big decision to make, it can be helpful to try to see as many roads available to us as possible and choose the wisest one. And once we choose that road, keep an open mind, a watchful eye, and a listening ear in case another option might eventually serve us better.
How do you avoid tunnel vision?
For example, let's say your car breaks down. You have at least 3 options -- fix it, replace it, or do without it. So, you decide to, just for fun, go to a car dealership and look around. You tell yourself, I am not going to buy, I am just looking. The salesman offers you to sit in one of the cars, so you slide right in. You smell the new car smell, you look at all the nifty gadgets on the dashboard and the salesman offers you a test drive. Sure, it won't hurt anything to do a test drive. So you take it out on the road while the salesman extols all the virtues of that model. Not only that, the car comes in your favorite color. Excitement runs through your veins as you start wondering if you could afford a new car. When you get back to the dealership numbers start getting crunched -- how much interest are you eligible for, what would be your monthly payments? You know why they don't want you to walk off that lot without your signature? Because your excitement is causing tunnel vision. If you leave, you may not come back. Why? Because the excitement wanes a little, allowing the other options to come to light again.
So next time we have a big decision to make, it can be helpful to try to see as many roads available to us as possible and choose the wisest one. And once we choose that road, keep an open mind, a watchful eye, and a listening ear in case another option might eventually serve us better.
How do you avoid tunnel vision?
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