HOW TO SEE YOUR OWN BLIND SPOTS | The Intelligence Habit of Challenging Your Own Thinking

Key Wellness / Self-Care / Productivity Strategies (Challenging Your Own Blind Spots)

• Re-train your “verification” instinct

  • Notice when you shift from seeking evidence to seeking confirmation.
  • Practice catching yourself when you start defending a story instead of testing it.

• Use the “What would I see if I was wrong?” question

  • Before arguing, decision-making, or self-judging, ask:
    • “What would I notice if my current conclusion were wrong?”
  • This helps you find overlooked evidence and reduces stubborn certainty.

• Separate observations from interpretations

  • Treat reality like two layers:
    • Observation (what happened)
    • Interpretation (meaning you assign)
  • Then ask evidence questions rather than jumping to conclusions:
    • “What else could explain this?”
    • “What evidence supports my interpretation, and what refutes it?”

• Ask “What could I have noticed earlier?” to learn from the past (without self-blame)

  • Avoid two traps:
    • Arrogance (“I knew it would happen”)
    • Unfair self-criticism (“How could I be so blind?”)
  • Use a narrower, actionable prompt:
    • “What could I have really noticed earlier?”

• Turn self-correction into a pattern audit (not guilt)

  • When you see a repeating life pattern (relationships, conflict, repeated failures), ask:
    • “What role do I play in this scenario?”
    • “What behavior pattern am I observing right now?” (more flexible than identity questions like “who am I?”)
  • Reframe from identity to behavior to break self-reinforcing cycles.

• Challenge the emotional “hard truth” your mind protects

  • Instead of “What am I doing wrong?” use:
    • “What would be hard for me to admit if it turned out to be true?”
  • This targets the blind spot that feels emotionally threatening, especially when criticism feels personal.

• Adopt a “red team” mindset for your own decisions

  • Red team isn’t about denial—it’s about stress-testing assumptions.
  • For decisions:
    • If you want to quit a job and have reasons to leave, reverse the frame:
      • If staying was better, what evidence would we expect to see?
      • If leaving was better, what evidence would we expect to see?
  • For arguments:
    • Before proving someone wrong, ask:
      • “What else could explain what happened?”
    • You don’t have to believe alternate explanations—just test your first story.

• Use “distance” to reduce bias

  • Delay responding or rehashing internally by using tools like:
    • time
    • writing it down
    • seeking another person’s perspective
    • perspective experiments (e.g., “If someone I don’t like made this choice, would I judge it the same way?”)

• Judge decisions by process, not just outcomes

  • Don’t call yourself “smart” or “stupid” based only on what happened later.
  • Examine the decision process:
    • What did I believe then?
    • What evidence did I have?
    • What did I ignore?
    • What assumption was never tested?

• Seek specifics from criticism instead of reacting

  • When others point out a blind spot, ask narrow questions:
    • “What exactly did I do that gave that impression?”
    • “When have you seen me do this before?”
    • “What would you like me to do differently?”
  • This converts criticism into testable information.

• Aim to keep the “door open”

  • Prefer:
    • “I sincerely tried to prove myself wrong.”
  • Over time, update conclusions as:
    • circumstances change
    • new information appears
    • your understanding develops

Presenters / Sources

• Presenter / speaker: Not explicitly named in the provided subtitles
• Source mentioned: The Psychology Files (service/channel referenced in the subtitles)