Blinded by Bias
About 150 episodes into our Meaning Over Money podcast (Spotify and Apple), my podcast partner, Cole, told me we needed to change our cover art. What?!?! We had the most perfect podcast art in the entire world, I thought to myself. I fought him on it. I gave him every argument in the book on why we should keep our existing podcast cover art. No matter what I said, he insisted, citing that "our podcast cover art is terrible!!!"
"What do you mean it's terrible, Cole? You're the one who made it! Why would you make cover art that you think is terrible?"
Honestly, I thought I had him with this clever little quip. That was, until he responded with this: "I didn't think we'd make it past episode 20, so I didn't think it mattered."
Oh.
Wanna see the podcast cover art that I vehemently defended and sincerely believed was the greatest cover art ever created?
This is the perfect example of being blinded by bias. It's the same bias that leads parents to believe their kids are the cutest, smartest, funniest, and most athletic little humans to ever roam this earth. It's also the same bias that clouds our decision-making judgment. We get so ingrained in our past and present decisions that we can't get past our own bias to see that there just might possibly be a better way.
This is one of the main obstacles I need to combat when coaching a new client. The bias is real, and it's a difficult nut to crack. It's so funny that we can so easily spot the flaws in others, but are blinded to the same flaws in ourselves. I'm guilty of it!
It's hard to see past our own bias. You know who can, though? Everyone around us! I recommend that we each have an array of people in our lives that we listen when they talk. I get criticized, mocked, and lectured by countless people on a daily and weekly basis. I try not to absorb most of it. However, there's a group of people in my life that when they talk, I listen. Some of their names include Dan, Dan, Gary, Chi-Chung, Tim, Rob, Ryan, and Kevin. When those dudes have something to say, I listen. I might not always agree, and when that happens, I probably need to lean in and listen more closely. It's hard to see past my own bias!
In any event, we changed our podcast cover art in late 2022. That art I shared above is ancient history, replaced with this one:
Yeah, it's safe to say Cole was right, and I was quite blinded by my bias. I'm glad I listened to Cole. Each day, let’s endeavor to get out of our own bias and open ourselves up to a better way. We’ll never get it fully right, but please never stop the journey toward excellence.
____
Did someone forward you this post? We're glad you're here! If you'd like to subscribe to The Daily Meaning to receive these posts directly in your inbox (for free!), just CLICK THIS LINK. It only takes 10 seconds.