You get what you focus on.
Can you be a Disney Princess? Well, short of obtaining a job where you dress up as one, you might not be able to obtain every goal you focus on, however, let’s explore this a little.
Your brain receives millions of messages every second, but can only process about 130 per second. The pinkie-sized Reticular Activating System (RAS) in your brain decides what to focus on and what messages to ignore. It filters all the messages to focus on what you value. When you decide you value something your RAS will look for that, it will filter through the millions of messages and focus on those pertaining to your valued object.
Your brain focuses on what you value
For example, you just decided you want a new car. You look at your options and decide you want a green Chevy Spark. Even though green is the least popular color in vehicles, you will start to notice green Chevy Sparks when you are on the highway. There are not more of these on the road since you decided that’s what you want, but now you have let your reticular activating system know you value that car so your RAS is focusing on it.
Your reticular activating system is just as important for other goals. When you create a goal your reticular activating system will filter all the messages coming into your brain to look for ways to create the result you want.
1. Set your goals.
I know, it’s not January first today. That doesn’t mean you cannot take some time today to set some health goals. These might be physical, emotional, spiritual, or even related to your environmental health. We as humans tend not to achieve goals very well when we’re on autopilot. Choosing a goal is the first step.
Your reticular activating system controls the Law of Attraction and will sort through all the messages your brain receives every second, with priority on the signals related to your goals and what you value. This part of your brain will work hard to find ways to help you attain your goals.
Your reticular activating system controls the Law of Attraction. It will work hard to find ways to help you attain your goals.
2. Write them down.
Writing your goals lets your reticular activating system know this is very valuable to you. If you read that goal out loud, your RAS puts even more of a priority on it. Only about 4% of people take the time to write down their goals. Ideally, when you write down your goal, you will create a “SMART” goal. One that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. However, if this sounds too much like homework, just take 5 minutes and write down a simple goal instead. The goal is to get something on paper.3. Make a vision board.
Your reticular activating system receives input from your five senses. When you choose a goal, you internally tell your RAS that you value that outcome. When you write it out, your muscle movement reinforces that to your RAS. If you read it out loud, you used another sense (hearing) to emphasize to your RAS the importance of this goal. By creating a vision board, you now have pictures to tell your brain “this is really important.”
Once again, this can be simple or complex. You can print out a picture and tape it to your mirror, save a picture on your phone and set it as your wallpaper, or even use an app and review your goals. (I looked through some and chose iWish. The free version works for me.) The important thing is to review your goal in a variety of ways over time.
This four-minute video is great!
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