You become what you think about.

There is a fancy sounding term I like; reticular activator. You have one, I have one, everyone has one. It’s a little part of your brain that focuses in on the things you tell your mind to pay attention to. It’s your mind’s filtering mechanism. When you consciously (or subconsciously) think about things, it’s your reticular activator that filters out examples of what you’re thinking about and brings them to the front of your conscious.

If you’re thinking about buying a new car and you’re really drooling over a new VW Beetle, you’ll very likely notice them everywhere you go. If you just bought a new leather jacket you really wanted, you’ll very likely notice everyone else seems to be wearing leather jackets too.

If you’re sitting at home reading in your living room, you’re probably aware that your kids are playing with the dog, that you wife is in the kitchen and that the TV is on in the den, but you’re not really focusing on any of these inputs - they’re filtered out. Though if your daughter falls and starts crying you’ll be instantly aware of it.

This is your reticular activator at work. It can not only help filter in, but it can filter out as well. If you understand how it works, you can use literally use what you think about to shape yourself.

Years ago there was a sign hanging in the computer lab of my high school; it read “Garbage In, Garbage Out” and was there as a reminder that a computer was only as good or as “smart” as the person putting data into it.

We don’t think about it much, but our brain is really just an incredibly powerful computer running software we call our mind. If we ask the right questions we’ll rarely fail to get a good answer from our mind. If we input bad data, our mind will process it and produce bad results. We too can be the victims of “garbage in, garbage out.”

And this garbage will literally drag your personal performance into the trash (no pun intended).

How? When you put in bad data you mind starts to setup limiting beliefs. When someone tells you, “You can’t start your own business, you’re too young.” or you hear, “You can’t get a promotion, you don’t have a degree.” you’re getting garbage as an input. If you don’t use your reticular activator to focus on other, positive inputs your mind will happily work on processing the garbage.

Then it spits out a result - a limiting belief - and suddenly you believe you really can’t start a business because you’re too young!

So how do you use your reticular activator to focus on good inputs to your mind and eliminate bad inputs?

The first step is to start “feeding” your mind with positive material; information that will help you develop new skills or reinforce skills you already have. For me, the easiest way to “eat” this positive material is through books. Audio programs are a good way to bring positive and useful material into your routine. I usually alternate between talk radio (I’m an NPR junkie) and audio books when I’m in the car.

The second step is to be aware that people will feed you “garbage” without meaning to. You need to be aware that this negativity exists out there and be ready to stop listening to it when you notice it. Again, use your reticular activator to tune out negative inputs.

The third step is to create positive inputs and suggestions that you constantly review. There are a lot of books out there that will tell you to write your desires over and over or to use positive talk to achieve your goals. I don’t believe that either of these processes alone will cause you to succeed, but when used in conjunction with good (written) goal setting and the regular input of positive material these positive suggestions can help you enhance what your achievements already are telling you.

Using these tools, and being aware that your mind will readily work on any input you let your reticular activator focus on, you can “think” yourself into becoming what you have outlined in your goals and focused your mind towards.

* * * * * If you enjoyed this article, will you please consider bookmarking it on del.icio.us?

Here are some related articles you might also enjoy!

• No related posts

January 3rd, 2006

Entry Filed under: Goals, Productivity, Improvement, Positive Thinking