New Word of the Week: Scotoma
Last week I wrote about the word Monocarpic which means to bloom once and then die. How sad.
This week I heard someone use the term ‘Scotoma’. I decided to look into it because it is a nice illustration of a common Entrepreneurs problem. But first:
Scotoma
An area of diminished vision within the visual field.
You might not know it but everyone has a Blind Spot, which is the popular name for Scotoma. Your eyes don’t actually see everything in front of you. There is a black spot somewhere but your brain fills in that gap for you.
Don’t believe me?
Here is a test:
| Try it yourself | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | O | X | ||
| Instructions: Your face should be very close to the screen. Cover right eye and focus the left eye on the X. Now slowly move away from the screen.The O will disappear, while the A which is further to the left is still visible. (Observe that you do not see a hole. Instead of the O you see a uniform grey background. The “hole” is filled in by your brain.) | ||||
This whole fenomena reminded me of the blind spot entrepreneurs (including me) have for the weak spots in their own businesses. I am often surprised at how we can collectively fool ourselves when it comes to new businessplans. Even some of my own plans, in hindsight contained clear errors, or blind spots, which are now suddenly very clear for me.
As an entrepreneur you learn to ignore your weaknesses and concentrate on your strengths. This is only logical and even good sometimes. But it can also become a problem if you fail to see real problems and shortcommings in your ideas and plans.
You have to find a balance between believing in yourself and questioning your own logic.
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