You’ve probably seen the video.
The one where you’re asked to watch a group of basketball players and count how many times the team wearing white passes the ball. If you haven’t, I’ll pop the link here. If you want to watch it before I spoil the result, I’ll wait. 😉
Most people become so focused on counting the passes that they completely miss the person in a gorilla costume walking across the court. The gorilla isn’t hidden. We just don’t see it because our attention is already occupied.
I was reminded of this the other day when I was getting a lift along a route I’m usually the one driving. It’s a route I’ve known for years. Possibly decades. Yet I noticed things I don’t remember noticing before.
The route hadn’t changed. I hadn’t changed. I was just turning up differently.
Normally, my attention is on the traffic, the road, where I’m going, what the other drivers are doing and what I need to do next. This time I was simply sitting there, with none of that to attend to. And because I wasn’t occupied with driving, I had the space to look.
I think we can do something similar in our own lives. We can be so busy thinking about something, trying to solve it, working out what we should do or anticipating what might happen next, that there isn’t much attention left over to simply notice what else is there.
And perhaps this is part of why people can have completely unexpected thoughts arrive in a coaching conversation.
Not because the coach has given them an answer. Not necessarily because they’ve been asked a particularly clever question. Sometimes there is simply enough space for them to stop steering for a while.
And when things settle, they can see something differently.
A different possibility. Something they hadn’t considered. Something they already knew, but hadn’t quite seen.
It’s not always about finding something new.
Sometimes it’s about having enough space to notice what you couldn’t see while you were busy looking elsewhere.
If something in this post resonates and you’d like to explore it further, reach out. I’d be happy to talk.
