MSS #086: Breaking the Groundhog Day Effect: Why Some Things Keep Happening and How to Change Them

MSS #86: Breaking the Groundhog Day Effect: Why Some Things Keep Happening and How to Change Them

31 Aug, 2024

🕒Read time: 3.3 minutes

🚀In a hurry? Cut straight to the heading "Wiring Your Mind for Success" - reduced read time 1.4 minutes

Ever feel like you’re living your own personal Groundhog Day, where the same situations keep repeating themselves?

Or why a familiar smell can instantly transport you back to a memory?

The answers lie in how our minds are wired to process sensory information. While four of our senses – sight, sound, touch, and taste – are filtered through a powerful system in our brain that decides what gets our attention, the sense of smell takes a direct route to the hippocampus, our brain’s memory centre.

There is more, this filter mechanism also scours your memories and experiences for anything that is relevant to your focus, its like the most powerful search engine – in your brain.

By understanding these processes, you can start to break the cycle and create the changes you want.

Ready to discover why life keeps repeating itself (well one side of the story this week).

What is the RAS?

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a tight bundle of neurons at the base of your brainstem. Its job is to filter the barrage of sensory information flooding your brain every second, allowing only the most relevant bits to reach your conscious mind.

Four of the sense feed directly into the RAS, smell goes into the Hippocampus, responsible for memories.

The RAS also filters information based on past learning and memory. It uses previous experiences to determine what information is relevant to your current focus or goals. This filtering process is largely subconscious, but it can be influenced by consciously setting intentions or goals, which helps the RAS to prioritise related information.

It's about 50mm long and 10mm wide, small but hugely powerful in our lives.

It’s the reason why, after you decide to buy a particular car, you suddenly see that model everywhere. Your RAS is now homed in on that specific piece of information, alerting you to every instance of it.

But here’s the catch: your RAS doesn’t distinguish between what’s good for you and what isn’t.

It simply magnifies whatever you focus on. If you’re constantly worrying about what could go wrong, your RAS will highlight every possible threat, reinforcing your fears and making the negatives in your life seem larger than they are.

It’s probably the source of the age old saying “be careful what you wish for.”

Using RAS to Achieve What You Want

Imagine if, instead of focusing on the things you fear or want to avoid, you directed your RAS to seek out opportunities, solutions and positive outcomes.

This simple shift can be life-changing.

Here’s how you can start:

• Choose Your Focus Wisely: The first step is to be crystal clear about what you want to achieve. Vague goals lead to vague results. Once you know what you’re aiming for, your RAS will start filtering your world for anything that supports that goal.

• Visualisation and Emotional Engagement: Spend time each day visualising* your desired outcome as if it’s already happened. Also engage your emotions – feel the excitement, satisfaction, or relief that comes with achieving your goal. This isn’t just daydreaming; it’s programming your RAS to recognise and prioritise the things that will help you succeed.

• Positive Self Talk: Frame your goals in the positive, present tense. Instead of saying, “I don’t want to fail,” say, “I am confident and successful.” This subtle shift keeps your focus on the positive outcome rather than the fear of failure.

• Awareness and Nudging: Start noticing where your thoughts naturally drift. If you catch yourself focusing on what you don’t want, gently nudge your attention back to what you do want. It’s a simple practice, but over time, it trains your RAS to align with your positive goals.

Piecing it Together

When you understand and harness the power of your RAS, you’re no longer at the mercy of random events. You take control, directing your mind’s spotlight onto the things that will help you move forward.

This doesn’t mean you’ll never face challenges, but it does mean you’ll be better equipped to spot solutions and opportunities when they arise.

I cover a lot more on how to harness the RAS effectively in my workshops and coaching sessions. It’s a game changer when it comes to achieving your goals and transforming your life.

This is such an important topic, I will share more in upcoming newsletters.

Summary

Your Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a powerful tool that can either work for you or against you.

By focusing on what you want rather than what you fear and using techniques like visualisation, positive self talk and consistent awareness, you can train your RAS to help you achieve your goals.

• The RAS filters sensory information and focuses on what you prioritise.

• Your focus influences whether the RAS works for or against you.

• Techniques like clear goal setting, visualisation and positive self-talk can align your RAS with your desired outcomes.

• Regularly nudging your focus back to positive goals ensures your RAS stays on track.

Mastering the RAS is a subtle yet powerful way to gain more control over your life. If this resonates with you, it might be the key to making significant changes in how you navigate your world.

More on this next month.

Understanding and leveraging the RAS is more than just an interesting concept - it’s a game changer for those who want to take control of their lives and achieve their goals.

If you’re ready to dive deeper, consider exploring this further in my workshops or coaching sessions, where we delve into these techniques and more ping me a quick email at [email protected] or DM me on LinkedIn Matt Sturgess | LinkedIn

*Visualisation

Be aware for some this comes easily, for others its challenging and for 4% of the population it’s not possible.

We all (but 4% with Aphantasia) visualise differently some with full 3D, colour, cinematic. Others with quite clear, colourful images, some with fleeting, mainly black and white images (me). A few with nothing at all.

Whichever visualisation situation you are in, linking visualisation with emotion and thinking of experiencing what it is you want to achieve helps. The “programming” language of the RAS is mainly images and emotion. So top up on the emotional side if visualisation is challenging or not possible.

I did a survey, these were the results.

Aphantasia (no visualisation) 4%
Subtle, little or no colour. 12%
Clear picture, some colour. 32%
Full colour, cinematic wonder. 52%

See you next week. One more thought 👇

Want more? 

When you're ready, 3 more ways I can help you:

1. My book - Nuclear Powered Resilience

2. Self confidence and resilience - £48 training course based on my book

3. Coaching packages - start with a FREE 15 minutes exploration session.

Other resources

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That's it for this week. Thanks for reading, really hope this helped. Contact me if you think I can help you further at [email protected].

Happy thinking.