Research, Technology, & Teamwork blog by Susie Wee

» Are you blind-sided by your strengths?

1. In soccer, you may be better at kicking the ball with your right foot than with your left foot.
2. In ice hockey, you may be better at making and receiving passes on your forehand than on your backhand. Or, you may have a better slapshot than wristshot.
3. In tennis, you may be better at hitting the ball with your forehand than your backhand.

1. In soccer, perhaps you take a few extra steps before taking a shot to move the ball from your left foot to your right.
2. In ice hockey, when making passes perhaps you first look to teammates on your forehand-facing side rather than your backhand-facing side. Or, perhaps you wind up for a slapshot instead of triggering a quick wrist shot.
3. In tennis, perhaps you position yourself on the line to increase the chance of receiving shots on your forehand.

1. In soccer, those few extra steps might cost you the shot as your opponent will have more time to steal the ball. Those extra steps may even cost you the goal as they may give the opposing goalie the extra time to get into position to make the save.
2. In hockey, if you only look towards one side of the ice to make a pass, you greatly limit the passing options you have and make it easy for the opposing team to cover you and the teammates you're more likely to pass to. Also, if you wind up for a slap shot rather than trigger the quick wrist shot, the extra time can reduce your chances of scoring as in the soccer example.
3. In tennis, if you position yourself on the court to favor receiving forehand shots, then you make it harder to reach the shots that come down the line that you're farther from.

• You may become over-confident in your abilities.
• You may become overly reliant on your strong tool and skill and apply it to the wrong situations.
• You may decide you don't need to invest in and develop your weak side.
• You may become unaware of the fact that you have a weak side or gap.
• You may become unaware of the fact that the gap skills exist or could be applied to the situation.
• You may only consider solutions that use your limited skillset and toolset and become unaware that the other solutions even exist.

• You unknowingly create sub-optimal solutions to your problems.
• You unknowingly create an upper limit on how well you can perform.