Keith Battle - Blind Spots

Here’s my subject today; it’s called «Blind Spots.» One of the reasons why David praised this way is because he understands that we all have blind spots. Somebody say «blind spots.» Yeah, yeah! In fact, if you know somebody around you, particularly just say, «Did you know you have blind spots?» Y’all say that kind of softly. Say, say, say from your chest, «You know you have blind spots!» I’ve subtitled this message, «What got you here won’t get you there.» Blind Spots. This chair is going to represent «there.» All of us are trying to get somewhere in 2018—there. That’s my goal. It could be a weight goal, a financial goal, or a relationship goal—that’s there. This is here. Here is reality; there is beyond just a goal. There, for the sake of this message, is your potential. I’m saying for many of us, your potential is greater than your goal. The reason why your potential is greater than your goal is because you created your goal from here, and here is full of limitations that we’re not even aware of. There are some limitations in our here that don’t even make us strive to reach our potential. We just want what’s next when God may want to take us to levels that we haven’t even considered. But if we don’t fix, if we don’t say, «God, search me and test me and point out to me the things that are hindering me from going from here today, ” because whatever got you here, whatever you’ve done up until this point, got you here. Here’s the level of success you’ve experienced in your life, and everything you’ve done up to this point got you here. Everybody say „here.“ Here’s my reality: this is God; whatever I’m doing has got me here, but whatever got me here is not going to get me there. That’s the trick. We think if we just become consistent, we’re going to get there. But I’m saying there are some things we must eradicate and correct; otherwise, we will never get there. This is a significant evaluation. I didn’t come up with that subject; I actually heard it in a book that I read. You can’t get there from here. Marshall Goldsmith wrote a book called „What Got You Here Won’t Get You There,“ and the concepts in the book are pretty phenomenal. One of the things it talks about, which makes this prayer of David so phenomenal, is that successful people have great difficulty owning their personal flaws because they focus on the things that made them successful. They usually focus on getting better at stuff they think they’re already strong at, but not a lot of people check them about things that are wrong with them. Their response to that is, „Well, that’s what made me. I made me who I am today, so I’m not about to change for nobody because I am who I am today. I’ve been keeping it real, and so I’m going to keep it real.“ But what if what got you here is holding you here? What if there’s more? Let me tell you a quick story about where this business message has evolved from. I was speaking at a church recently, and after I spoke at the church, I got a letter in the mail from someone who was in the audience. I’m not even sure how the person found and identified where I live, but they found my address and mailed me a letter. The letter was 14 pages long—seven pages front and back, handwritten. So I got to read all this in cursive, and I could tell the letter was in a card. The card was mailed to my home address, and when I opened it up, it said, „Happy Holidays“ and added, „I’m just being honest.“ So I knew the letter was going to be somewhat traumatic. So I began reading the letter, and the person starts off with kind of small talk. „Aaliyah, thank you for coming to speak at our church. We know we were blessed by the word, ” and then they start going at me. I’m thinking, „This is 14 pages about me! Who is this?“ So I went back to the return address, and if it was anonymous, I would have tossed it in the trash. If you don’t have the courage to tell me who you are, I don’t want to hear. But then this person put their name and return address on the letter. So I googled the person. I thought, „Let me figure out who this is, ” and I must be honest; it took me a whole day when I first read the letter. I thought, „I know she isn’t coming at me like this.“ And I’m like, „You dis—who I am? You don’t know who I am! Who are you to come at me?“ I’m just talking to the letter in my office, like, „Who are you coming at me?“ So I tried to say, „I’m going to dismiss this. I’m going to throw it in the trash.“ You know, some of us who don’t want to be checked about stuff that’s wrong with us, we just try to blow it off and say, „I’m not thinking about them.“ You’re trying to come at me like that? I am who I am!