From Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich’ to Tony Robbins’ ‘Awaken the Giant Within’, and Allan and Barbara Pease’s ‘The Answer’, there’s strong agreement among mindset strategists about the power of personal belief and support for the notion that what you focus on is most often what you get to the exclusion of everything else.
The Power of the RAS
Understanding and using the brain’s reticular activating system (RAS) is one of the most powerful ways of achieving your business goals, including activating your personal brand to accelerate career success.
The RAS is a bundle of nerves located in the brain stem and plays a role in many important functions, including sleep, arousal, motivation, consciousness and filtering incoming information to the brain.
While the RAS can help filter out repeated stimuli to avoid our senses being overloaded, it can also control what we consciously focus our attention on. Like being able to tune out noise at a crowded venue but immediately prick your ears when you think you hear your name being used.
Or, like when you buy a new red car, suddenly you see red cars everywhere. They were always there; it’s just that your purchase of the car indicates to the RAS that this object is now significant and needs to be noticed. In effect, the RAS creates a filter for what you want to focus on.
If You Think it, You Can Probably Have it
Many business owners I come across have reservations when it comes to putting themselves out there in the public domain. For example, they don’t feel confident sharing their thought leadership on social media for fear of being judged. In the context of activating and amplifying your personal brand, the RAS can help you to step out of your comfort zone by programming it to focus on the outcome you do want and not on what you don’t want.
And as the RAS can’t distinguish between what’s real and what’s fictitious, you can program it by feeding it positive messages, affirmations and visualisations about the goals you wish to achieve.
As with the red car example, when you decide exactly what you want to achieve in business or through having a strong personal brand, your mind will go searching for the answers to support you in making it happen.
Tony Robbins says that ‘Once you decide that something is a priority, you give it tremendous emotional intensity, and by continually focussing on it, any resource that supports its attainment will eventually become clear’[1].
Have you ever decided you want something badly then noticed that the universe conspired to make it happen? I know I have.
If something’s holding you back from letting your inner brilliance shine through a strong authentic personal brand, enlist the help of your RAS.
[1] Robbins, A. Awaken the Giant Within, Simon & Schuster, 2001, 288
©Ros Weadman 2023 Ros Weadman is a brand communication and reputation specialist who combines her professional expertise in PR, strategic communications, psychology and education to help leaders build an industry-leading brand with a great reputation.
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