Blinders

Seth Godin writes,

My friend Alan came over to dinner the other night. Unbeknownst to me, he had a few plastic scorpions in his pocket (a reminder of a recent adventure).

I saw a plastic scorpion on the bowl of nuts, but I didn't see it, I just moved it aside and went ahead preparing dinner. A few minutes later, I saw a second plastic scorpion on the counter, but again, I didn't actually see it, didn't pause or consider it, I just moved on. It took until the third plastic scorpion before I said, "huh."

This is one reason we feel the need to yell 'surprise' at a surprise party. Because we all have blinders on.

The people who are the very best at noticing what's happening notice it because they're looking.

"You can see a lot just by looking."