You want to achieve your goals, but you don’t know how. You’ve tried all the self-help books and techniques, but nothing seems to work. Sometimes, the answer is as simple as exposing yourself to new ideas and new perspectives.
The subconscious mind is incredibly powerful and can be a great asset when it comes to achieving your goals. This is because the subconscious mind doesn’t know what can or cannot be done – it simply takes into account your thoughts, feelings, and actions towards a goal and then helps you achieve it.
In this blog post, we will discuss how to use your subconscious mind to achieve your goals and create the life you desire!
Frequency Bias
You’ve probably experienced the feeling of noticing things more when you are focused on a goal. If you’re pregnant, you’ll notice pregnant bellies everywhere. If you want to buy a certain type of car, you’ll see this brand driving everywhere. Things you haven’t really paid attention to in the past are now everywhere you look.
This incredible experience is called the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon, also known more simply as frequency illusion. Frequency illusion is a cognitive bias that causes people to think that something they’ve just noticed is suddenly appearing more frequently.
Why It Happens
This phenomenon occurs because our brains are wired to pay attention to things that are important to us. So, when we’re focused on a goal, our brain takes notice of anything related to it – even if we haven’t consciously registered it before.
Your brain is capable of incredible things, processing an innumerable number of particles of information. The part of the brain that organizes this information and creates the illusion of frequency is your Reticular Activation System (RAS).
This system is responsible for sifting through all of the information our brain takes in every day and deciding what is important enough to bring to our attention. It acts as a filter for your reality. Unnecessary information is filtered out. The information important to you gets filtered into your reality.
So if you’re pregnant, you’ll see more pregnancies. If you’re buying a car, you’ll see that type of car more. This is because it’s important information for you and your RAS will focus on that and change how you see, hear, and feel in the world.
How to Use It to Achieve Your Goals
Frequency illusion is a great example of how our subconscious mind can help us achieve our goals. When we’re focused on a goal, our subconscious mind, specifically RAS, takes notice of anything related to it and brings it to our attention. This allows us to take action towards our goals and makes it more likely that we’ll achieve them.
So how do you use this knowledge to your advantage?
- Identify your desired goal. What is it that you want to achieve? Be as specific as possible. This will be part of conscious desire.
For example, let’s say you want to lose weight. Your goal might be: “I want to lose 20 pounds in the next six months.” This is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goal.
Now that you have your goal, it’s time to focus on it. This is where the power of frequency illusion comes in.
- Begin to focus on your goal. This will require you to use both your conscious and subconscious mind.
Your subconscious mind is looking for evidence to support what you’re thinking about. So, if you want to achieve a goal, you need to focus your thoughts on that goal. This can be done through visualization, affirmations, or simply thinking about your goal often throughout the day.
In the weight loss example, you might visualize yourself at your goal weight, looking and feeling great. You might say affirmations such as “I am healthy and fit” or “I easily and effortlessly lose weight.”
As you focus on your goal, you’ll begin to notice things related to it more and more. Things like healthy food options, exercise activities you’ve never thought about before such as taking the stairs instead of an elevator, or even articles and blog posts about weight loss will start to pop up in your life.
This is your subconscious mind at work, helping you achieve your desires. Pay attention to these clues and take action towards your goal.
- Stay positive. It’s important to maintain a positive attitude throughout the process because negativity only hurts you.
For example, suppose you believe you are a bad salesman. You keep this belief with you throughout the day. In a sales conversation, your RAS then causes you to see the other person look away for a moment, where you perceive it as disinterest. This affects how you think, how you feel, and how you speak. Before you know it, you have a bad sales pitch. Thus, your negative belief is confirmed.
However, if you were to maintain a positive attitude, you may see the other person as being interested in your conversation, leading you to feel more confident, speak with more enthusiasm, and have a successful sales pitch.
In the weight loss example, if you don’t believe you can lose weight, you won’t. You’ll find excuses not to exercise or eat healthy. You’ll give up easily.
On the other hand, if you maintain a positive attitude and believe you can achieve your goal, you’ll find ways to make it happen. You’ll be more likely to stick with your healthy eating and exercise plan.
This positive belief causes you to have a positive reality. It makes you think, feel, and talk differently.
Why Does This Work?
Getting your conscious and subconscious minds to work together is the ultimate idea of this process.
A conscious effort is the specific goals you choose. An unconscious effect is believing that you can achieve them. In order to have these two halves of your mind meet, make sure that you truly believe you can accomplish the goal you set out for yourself.
If you don’t believe that reaching your goal is possible, then your subconscious, through the filter of the RAS, will work against you. In short, you won’t reach your goal because you don’t believe you can.
Getting Support
When it comes to achieving your goals, your subconscious mind is a powerful tool. By understanding how it works, you can learn how to harness its power and use it to your advantage.
But if you’re stuck, unable to convince your subconscious that you’re good enough, that’s where professional coaching comes into play. In order to make your desires a reality, a coach will help guide you by identifying bad habits, adjusting your behavior, and holding you accountable for your goals.
If you’re interested in pursuing professional coaching, contact me, and let’s chat about how I can help.
