Hack Your Mind
Updated: Mar 3
My Promise of a short and sweet post!
Neuroscience changed my life. It may sound strange coming from someone who's not a scholar or a scientist, but it's true. As a dyslexic dropout who was always called lazy, my options weren't great, but I had a Sea Change moment that turned my life around (longish story that’s not short or sweet). By the end of the story, I was learning at the best schools in the world.
Truth be told, I was pretty ticked off that all this life-changing stuff wasn't taught in the fifth grade! And thus began my journey to share (to anyone who would listen.) Here's one of my favorite hacks I use daily:
HACK
Have you ever noticed when you score a new word, say like "serendipity." Suddenly, you start seeing it everywhere, in books, on billboards, and in conversations. (so weird when this happens) It's like the whole world already knew this word. But did the word just suddenly appear out of nowhere? Of course not. It was always there, but your brain wasn't paying attention to it before.
That's where the RAS (Reticular Activating System) comes in. It's like a gatekeeper in your brain, filtering out the noise and focusing on what's important. But here's the catch we don't really get to choose what it is filtering; it (sort of) has a mind of its own. But we can direct our RAS to notice more of what could benefit us.
For example, let's say you've always dreamed of going to France. Instead of just daydreaming about Paris, wake up your RAS by getting specific about what needs to happen to make it a reality. Maybe you decide to skip Starbucks and save up money or you need to research how to get a passport or think about checking out vacation limits at work. You're training your RAS to spot opportunities that will bring you closer to your goal. -If your brain is always filtering, don't you want a say in what it decides to filter?
So when you spot a 'benefits' email from work, your like yeah, “I wanted to check that out.”
All because you started to hack your brain, RAS creates a feedback loop reminding you of your goals in the first place, now that's serendipity!
So go ahead, activate the very powerful system in your brain, and see what kind of serendipitous opportunities come your way.
Pro Tip: Grab the free, easy, and fun Goal Mapping Ditto to get your RAS rolling.
Goal Smasher is packed full of these little
nuggets of wisdom, ready to use.
Happy Hacking!
Audrey