The Ultimate Sales Machine - Chet Holmes [123]
I have even applied this information to how I raise my children. When either of them says anything like “I can’t” or “I’m no good at that,” I say, “What’s that called?” They moan, “Failure reinforcement.” One day when my son was learning tennis, he said, “I just can’t get the hang of that serve.” Then he looked at me and caught himself. “But I’m getting better every day.” They may have moaned and groaned, but in no time they were both seeing the fantastic results that come when you focus your RAS on what you want in your life instead of what you don’t.
Have you ever heard the saying “Fake it till you make it”? The reason this works is that by adjusting your attitude (or faking it) as if you had already reached the goal you are trying to achieve, you are tricking your subconscious into creating that success or skill level as a reality. Whatever you tell it over and over again is what it believes and what it will bring more of into your life. Have the attitude that you already have the success you want, and your subconscious will work to bring about more success in your life.
Attitude is the only thing we can control in life, yet it’s also the most powerful. You can’t control your spouse, your kids, the weather, your coworkers, or the economy. You can try to better understand each of them, but you can’t control them. All you can control is your perception and your attitude. The good news is that perception and attitude are all you need to control to achieve your goals and dreams in life and business.
How It Works
Let’s say you’re walking through an airport terminal, looking for your gate. You’ve got two hours until your flight so you’re not in a hurry. You’re not expecting any calls or anything—just walking along, looking for the gate. There are 1,000 things going on around you—conversations at various volumes, announcements over the loudspeaker, kids running around and getting yelled at by their parents. You’re not paying attention, so you’re not hearing any of it. Then suddenly, “Joe Smith, pick up the white phone!” And you go, “Hey, that’s me!”
That’s your reticular activating system screening out every thing that won’t interest you and then waking you up to something that will interest you. In a crowded airport with thousands of commercial messages and announcements and other distractions, your RAS will tune out everything. Imagine what it would be like walking along or sitting in a restaurant if you couldn’t tune out those things that didn’t matter to you. You wouldn’t even be able to have a conversation or focus on anything.
Another example is when you buy a new car. You never noticed that car before and suddenly you start to see it every where. Now that this specific car has become of interest to you, your RAS will pick it out of thousands of cars you see every day.
Here’s another example: my screenplay has caught the interest of quite a few actresses and recording stars. I would never have even heard of some of these women had they not been interested in making this film. When LeAnn Rimes was reading my script to play the lead role, suddenly I couldn’t open a magazine or turn on the television without seeing her. Had she not been interested in the film, I would have only noted that she had a hit song or two. But once she was on my radar and my RAS was informed that I was interested in her, I noticed her in hundreds of places.
A very efficient machine, the RAS zeros in on any area of interest. This is whatever is occupying your thoughts: your car, your hobbies, your goals, your success, your limitations, your failures, and so on. If you are constantly thinking about failure, problems, and concerns, your RAS will continually hone in on and bring you more of what you’re most interested in. Whether it’s failure or success, your RAS will direct the full force of your brain to sort through the clutter and carefully select and guide you to the reality that is consistent with your thoughts. You could be walking down the street, thinking that business is bad all over. You look around and see a GOING