How to keep your head when everyone around you is losing theirs

"We are in a downward economic spiral which is being fueled by our thoughts and words!”

 Can you see where the solution might be?" 

After 26 years of research in the field of human potential and limiting beliefs I absolutely believe that we can turn an downward spiral into an upward spiral rapidly just by changing the words we use and the thoughts that currently dominate our minds by altering our point of focus! 

Think about this for a moment. Have you ever gone into your local town feeling particularly low or depressed? 

Cast your mind back and recall how you were greeted when you were amongst those people. Did they greet you with smiles? Probably not!  

What about the same situation in reverse. You went into town in a fantastic mood with your mind flooding with thoughts of the wonderful world you were fortunate enough to live in. 

How were you treated then?  

Do you remember being greeted with smiles by people who were happy to assist you?  

Well it was no accident. Still not convinced? Then think about the last time you bought a new car. Do you remember how all of a sudden those cars began to appear everywhere.  

Did you ever wonder why that was? 

What about this for the ladies who have been pregnant before. I may not have known you but I can tell you a conversation that I guarantee took place between you and your friends, your mother and your husbands or partners and this is how the conversation went. 

You said. There must be a baby boom on now as everywhere I look I see pregnant women. Didn’t you? Well there hasn't been a baby boom since the end of world war two. 

Is it magic? No, it's not magic you have simply activated something called your reticular activating system or your RAS for short. Your RAS is a net like group of cells situated at the base of your brain stem which acts as an information screening device. Much like any good secretary does every day to make sure their boss only gets to see that which is of value to them and nothing else. It simply admits or denies information to be accessed by you depending on whether it deems it important to you.

So who decides if it is important to you? You do. By what you choose to focus on and attach emotion to at any given moment as it will only allow information into your conscious field of awareness that is only either of value or a threat. But if you don't take action quickly enough your RAS will pick up on your doubts and fears and immediately bring everything into your mind that confirms your doubts and why you should avoid taking action on an idea that only a short time ago you believed to be the answer to all of your prayers.  

Why would your RAS do this?

Because it accepts what you tell it is important to you by what you focus on and think about consistently. So, when you fail to take action within five seconds doubts begin to creep in. Your RAS is then activated and immediately begins to produce all the reasons not to proceed and floods your mind with memories of past failures and confirms the impending doom that will befall you if you persist in following through with this course of action. 

This is why two people can walk down the very same street while one thinks it's a wonderful life and the other thinks the world is going to hell in a handbag. It's the same street. They are just seeing different this based up their point of focus. 

A wonderful example of how the RAS works in the negative and how it allows information to get through that it has perceived as a threat is the example of the new mother. A new mother can sleep through all manner of distractions without waking. There could be a party taking place next door, A low flying aircraft and noisy traffic passing close by and nothing will wake her. But if the baby even begins to stir she will sit bolt upright in bed instantly and will be checking to see if her child is OK within moments. This is how effective and powerful the RAS is. I am sure that some of you will be wondering why the man doesn’t respond in the same way. Well that’s because he knows that his wife will respond like this and it allows him to carry on sleeping. For the man the RAS comes in the form of an elbow in the ribs when it is his turn to get up. The man simply won't respond as he just gets into bed and thinks about what he has to do tomorrow. The child doesn't even enter the thought process. 

Your reticular activating system scans around 2 million bits of information per second. However you can't process that much information. It can only process 134 bits of information through your five senses. so how can your brain possibly know what’s important to you and what isn’t?  

It processes whatever your dominant thoughts are as important, and that is how all manner of things such as coincidences take place. You are sitting in a cafe and overhear someone selling a vintage motorcycle that you have been looking to acquire for years! Luck? Not really the reality is it was your dominant thoughts and focus that picked up on the conversation as it contained information that was important to you.

Do you think for a second that the fourteen year old girl or the seventy five year old lady in the same proximity also heard the conversation about the motorcycle.

They may have heard it but it subconsciously bypassed their field of awareness because it wasn’t important to them, things pass us by at a mental level because they don’t appear on our radar as significant to us. 

Do you remember the old cliché that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? Did you ever wonder why that was? It was because that is what they focused on as the rich man is not just financially rich, he is mentally rich and his mind is seeking opportunities to protect and enhance his wealth. whereas the poor person can also be poor in mind and his thoughts are dominated by his bills and his inability to pay them! Then as if by magic they both get exactly what they expect! 

You see we never ever get what we want but we always get what we expect! 

Moving swiftly back to the economy, if your dominant thoughts are about how bad the economy is.. How there is no sign of it getting better and what you will do when you lose it all! 

Meanwhile your brain is busy finding all of the negative information based upon your current point of focus to provide you with all the evidence you need to prove to yourself that you are right!  You will see every  single piece of negative news about the economy, whether it is in the papers, on TV or a random conversation you overheard. Your brain is busy sifting through the 2 million bits of data coming its way every second just to show you that, yes you are right and the world is going to hell in a handbag and here’s the proof that you asked for! 

Many years ago a man accompanied his brother on a visit to the psychiatrist in order to help him after he had taken his fifth overdose and had just been through his third divorce. After about 20 minutes sitting with the psychiatrist and after both brothers had been talking for an equal amount of time the psychiatrist looked as if he was becoming more and more puzzled.  Then suddenly after 20 minutes or so, he said, "Stop, hang on a second”, I have to ask a question. 

 You are brothers aren’t you?"  

"Yes" they replied. 

“How come you turned out so very different?" 

The answer is the perfect example of everything that we have covered here today. 

In unison they said.  

"What would you have become if you had a father like mine?"

Mark Baker is a Speaker. Executive coach and the author of “An Unbreakable Spirit”

A survivor of nearly two decades of mental and physical abuse before going on to beat cancer after being misdiagnosed twice leaving him with less than a 20% chance of survival and a 90% chance of a brain tumour within 12 months if he survived.

He attributes his survival to his studies in human potential and beliefs.  

He went on to rank in the top 1% of salespeople in the world.

Mark pioneered the coaching industry in the Channel islands in 1994 and has delivered his powerful life changing talks on sales, mindset and storytelling in business for over twenty five years.

He delivers his life changing talks and coaching to clients all over the world.

Mark speaks and coaches from his own powerful real life experiences.