If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ve probably seen me reference the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, otherwise known as selective attention.
It’s why you notice other people wearing your coat, someone driving a car that’s the same model as yours, or ads targeting something you were just talking about.
We prime our own brains to pay closer attention to the things that we are thinking about. And because we are naturally prone to confirmation bias, this is dangerous.
If you live in a world of worry – thinking a bad outcome is going to happen – you will be primed to look for signs to confirm your fears. As you start to see what you perceive to be signs of your worry, it only gets worse.
But the opposite is true too. If you believe that things are going well or that opportunity is around you, you’ll be primed to see signs confirming that too.
It’s a choice. Which sounds better to you?