Lyin’ Eyes…

On every trip to the grocery store, I tell myself the same big, fat lie:

Among the fruits & veggies, I'll grab a bag of baby carrots and think, 

“I'll snack on these instead of something unhealthy while I watch TV."

The carrots will then sit in the back of my fridge's crisper drawer, neglected and reproachful, until they've become too slimy & shriveled to be eaten. (“Oh well. Cheese puffs it is…”)

I've tossed enough unopened bags of carrots into the trash that now, when I inevitably think “THIS time I'm going to eat the carrots,” I can stop, admit “No, Jane, you won't," and remove them from my cart.  

(Sometimes a bag slips in and enters the grocery-cart-to-trashcan-pipeline again, a reminder of how easily I can lie to myself).

This isn't the biggest carrot-based falsehood I know, though. 

The accepted “truth” that carrots are the top food for improving eyesight is actually a myth that originated during World War II. 

During the Blitz of 1940-41, German planes were bombing Britain at night, killing thousands of civilians. 

The Royal Air Force was able to develop a top-secret radar that could help them locate and shoot down German planes in the dark, but they didn't want the Nazis to know they had this new technology.

So the British government planted a story in the media that the reason their pilots could locate so many planes in the dark was from their exceptionally strong night vision –from eating loads of carrots. 

The idea took off. The British population started eating more carrots, too, hoping for better eyesight during nighttime blackouts. 

Now, 85 years later, we still associate carrots with exceptional eyesight.

(They do have vitamins that are good for eyes, but apparently fatty fish like sardines & mackerel are what really boost our peepers). 

How have we carried this belief for so long? 

Are we just creatures of habit?

Or has the Big Carrot lobby manipulated us into throwing those lil' bags in our grocery carts all this time?

The thing is, certain beliefs and ways of doing things can just get deeply (ahem) rooted in us. (I see this in my work as a therapist all the time).

Business Leaders do the same thing: we absorb all kinds of business truisms without questioning where they came from, or whether they serve us.

–Or maybe we'll cling to old strategies that have helped for one phase of our growth, but have outlived their usefulness (like a stale bag of carrots tucked in the back of the fridge). 

This is part of the value of coaching:  it's a chance to pause and question your assumptions, or what you've been told “works,” and get clarity on what will actually move your goals forward.

What assumptions & beliefs are you carrying in your work (and life)? 

If you want help seeing things more clearly (no carrots required), schedule a Clarity Call with me today and we'll explore what's possible for you.

Keep calm and carrot on, (groan –sorry, I can't resist a pun),

Jane