Working as a writer with other writers, I’ve noticed the curious phenomenon of typos.

We spot everyone else’s, but often fail to see our own.

When you’ve been staring at a piece of copy for hours … tweaking, changing, and editing, it’s so easy to become oblivious to your mistakes. You’re over familiar, too comfortable, and to you, it reads perfectly – after all, you know exactly what it is that you’re trying to say.

Pass it on to a fresh pair of eyes however, and you get a whole new perspective. They see what you miss.

Is it possible that the same applies to our own lives?

We get so busy doing what we do, the way we know how to do it, with our self-imposed blinkers completely blocking out any areas that we might need to change.

So when someone comes along and says, ‘Hey – have you ever thought about trying this?’ or, ‘Perhaps you could have handled that situation a better way …’ our natural reaction is to get all twitchy.

‘How dare they criticise me,’ we think.

‘They don’t know what they’re talking about!’

I know that’s been my response in my own life.

But slowly, with tiny, toddler-steps, I’m starting to become more teachable. To welcome those suggestions. Invite further comments. Appreciate that perhaps the people around my life can sometimes see my ‘typos’ better than I can.

Do you want to join me? Maybe together, we can learn to …

Be Teachable.