What Is The Reticular Activating System (RAS)

The recticular activating system is an area of the brain responsible for regulating the arousal and sleep-awake transitions.  Well that’s really interesting isn’t it?  Not really? Well it can be because the RAS is a key element that enables you to reach your goals.

Imagine you are walking down a busy street in a city. You can hear cars, things bumping and banging people talking, some people shouting.  Your senses are being assailed by all of these things, yet for the most part you just filter it all out.  You pay attention to little of that noise because part of your recognises that it is nothing you need to be aware of.  Yet amongst all this noise and stimuli you suddenly hear the sound of your own name being called.  You turn and to your surprise there stands a friend that you haven’t seen for years.  How did you do it?  How did you manage to pick out your own name from the cacophony of sound all around you?  That was your RAS at work, bringing to your attention the relevant and important information that you need to know.

The RAS Filters Out What We Don’t Need to Know

Our lives are so busy and we are so over stimulated that it is essential for us to filter out a lot of what is going on around us or we would most likely go mad, but there are some crucial things that we need to pay attention to.  Like the sound of our name being called or the number of our flight being called over a public address. Your RAS acts as an executive secretary for your conscious mind, screening and filtering out extraneous information.  The RAS makes sure that only two kinds of information reach your conscious thinking in the moment.  Those are,  any threats to your safety and any information that may be of importance to you.

The RAS Helps You Achieve Your Goals

The natural part of the brain is exactly what you need when you are trying to work towards certain goals, because it’s the RAS that will allow the filters to be lifted so that you can see/hear information that is important in the execution of those goals.  Imagine for example you have been given an appraisal at work. During that appraisal it was mentioned that you could behave more assertively with colleagues.  You take this information to heart and make a mental note that you want to learn more about assertiveness.  A couple of days later while driving the car you hear a report about a new book that has come onto the market about the subject of assertiveness.  A few days later you hear some people talking about that book.  A few more days later and you are walking past a book shop where you see a big poster advertising that book.  You go in and purchase the book.   In simple terms what has happend is that you have given your RAS an instruction that this thing called assertiveness is important information and that you want to learn more about it.  Hey Presto! You filters let the information in, so what has previously been on the outer fringes of your perception is now more obvious to you.

Would You Like To Speed Up Your Goal Setting?

If you really want to speed up your goal setting here are two things you can do that will make a significant difference.

1. Write the goal down.  Have your heard of S.M.A.R.T targets.  Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Bound.  If you write down you goal giving it a date for completion you are giving your brain a very definite target to work towards.
2. Use your imagination.  Visualise it.  See it, feel it, smell it, touch it…..use as many senses as you can.  Feel it as though you have it.  When you imagine it allow yourself to feel it emotionally as though you really do have that goal.  How would it feel if you already had that promotion.  What would driving that new car down a country lane on a nice sunny day really feel like to you.

Using these two simple tools of writing the goal down to concrete the goal in your mind and using your imagination and senses to visualise the goal as a reall thing you are giving yourself two very important boosts to begin making your goals your truth.

Would you like to start writing powerful goals that mean that you can start achieving some of those things you have been promising yourself for some time.  Look no further.  Our Goal Setting course can be done for just £5.99  or you can do the accredited course for £50