Missing the Obvious

How often does this happen  — that we’re so focused on looking at (or for) one thing we miss something else, something outrageous, obvious, important, right under our noses?

If you missed my link to the famous Daniel Simons ‘basketball’ illustration of this phenomenon, go look at it now.

I write a lot about the importance of learning to pay attention, to really see. But sometimes we can be just too focused, to the point incredible opportunities are missed.

There’s a related phenomenon, one that comes not from focusing too intently but from not knowing what to look for, or not knowing how to ‘make sense’ of what we are seeing. An example: On at least a half-dozen occasions, with different people, friends I’ve been visiting have complained about their dog’s ‘annoying habit’ of running right in front of them when they’re walking and getting underfoot, or cornering the cat, or nipping ankles, or chasing cars. They tell me they’ve done everything to try to ‘correct’ this behaviour, and are convinced their dog is either stupid or doing it deliberately to annoy them. To me it’s obvious: What we’re witnessing is the dog’s inherent herding behaviour. The poor dog is trying to herd his or her people, to get them together where s/he can keep an eye on them. Likewise the poor cat is a substitute lamb, and the car a substitute steer. If these owners could witness their dog’s response to a small group of sheep, they would immediately say Aha! and understand what they’d been witnessing. They just didn’t know what they were seeing.

The consequences of missing the obvious are profound: Having the perfect career opportunity pass you by. Not noticing the potential love of your life looking with interest your way. Neglecting to consider the innovation that could solve a huge and intractable problem, when it was right in front of you. Ignoring the self-evident (but alas, only to others) opportunity for Let-Self-Change that could make you incredibly happy, or incredibly useful to society.

The most frightening thing about missing the obvious is that, unless someone else catches it and tells us, we’ll probably never know what we missed.

What can we do to prevent, or at least minimize the chance of this happening to us? How can we learn to pay attention without losing track of the forest for the trees? How can we better prepare ourselves to know what to look for, and to make good sense of what we’re seeing? Is this what friends are for?

How often have you slapped yourself for overlooking something so obvious you’re astounded you didn’t see it, or think of it? Do you have any good stories about people (feel free to change the names to protect the guilty) missing the obvious? (And if there’s a chance we’ll miss the story’s message, even if it’s obviousto you, don’t forget to tell us what it is!)