What Does Losing “Proprioception” Look Like at Work?

It’s losing touch with what you’re projecting—believing your intent equals your impact. Others experience superiority, arrogance, or indifference while you remain convinced you’re helping.

Info

Proprioception is the body’s sense of its own position, movement, and the forces acting upon it, allowing for coordinated actions without constant visual or conscious thought.

Metaphor

Losing proprioception at work is like walking through a crowded room with noise-canceling headphones—unaware that you’re bumping into people because you can’t hear the collisions. The shared trait is a loss of feedback: just as silence hides the sound of impact, ego or blind spots hide the effect of your actions.

That’s why intent without awareness of impact makes you seem aloof or overbearing, even while you think you’re being helpful.

Works Consulted

In addition to any sources cited above, the following works informed my thinking: (1)

1.
Goldsmith M. What Got You Here Won’t Get You There [Internet]. Profile Books; 2013. Available from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84525.What_Got_You_Here_Won_t_Get_You_There