When I was nineteen, I got a job as a newspaper reporter. It was über-nerd behaviour, but before my first appraisal was due, I walked into my editor’s office and asked for some insights into what I was doing right and wrong.

Her feedback was pure gold. I also discovered how completely we fail to see our own blind-spots - a large amount of what she said was a total surprise to me. 

Solving a flaw in our professional behaviour allows us to graduate to the next level. Fail to cull the bad bits or fail to add what's needed, and you stay where you are. The desire to seek out our own blind-spots - our limiting weak-points - is therefore an important part of becoming an industry expert. 

I’ve repeated this request for feedback into my own blindspots several times in my life. Among the most valuable were the times I asked a high-level colleague to critique my marketing materials and the time I asked one of my agents what I could do (or cull) in order to graduate to the next level. 

Feedback on blindspots is critical. Naturally, however, swallowing it is hard. It implies a willingness to openly listen to someone tell you what you’re doing wrong. 

There are many ways to elicit this sort of feedback, but I’d like to recommend two: The first is to seek it out from a high-level colleague. Be specific about what you’re trying to achieve in your career, and ask what you’re doing right and wrong relative to your goal. The second is to join a master-mind group that openly discusses and debates winning (and limiting) behaviours. 

Couple the courage to open yourself up to scrutiny with the openness to hear it, and you can become the greatest in your game.