By James Razko
You are equipped with a system in your brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). This network of neurons acts as a filter between your nonconscious mind and your conscious mind. What you feed you nonconscious self will dramatically affect your conscious life.
A typical example is: you want to buy a new car, let’s say a blue Subaru. Before you wanted this car, you never really noticed any blue Subarus on the road. Now that you want one, you see the car everywhere. This is your Reticular Activating System (RAS) in action.
When your nonconscious self deems that something is significant, it will devote more of your conscious attention to whatever that is. This same system lets you focus one conversation in a crowd of talking people.
This is powerful, as the things you pay attention to shape your reality, and this attention either helps you to achieve your desires or not.
How can you harness this power?
A simple way is to write down your intentions, also known as an implementation intention. This small act sends a signal to your nonconscious self that this is important to you.
Maybe this works so well because we have been trained by years of note-taking. After all, in school, you were taught to write down only the most important things. And given that most of us write much less, it may seem all the more critical when you do.
So write down the things that matter, and you will effortlessly begin devoting more attention to whatever it is. Doing so, Your chances of fulfilling that intention will increase.
You can make this more potent by creating a ritual around the note. Light a candle before you write it down and blow it out after you finished. Bury the note in your backyard. Try to make it meaningful, and your Reticular Activating System will hear you.
Compliment this by reading with: Book Summary: Atomic Habits by James Clear.