It seems like there is an overwhelming number of advice columns, self-help books and workshops on the topic of "focused intention" and how you can set your intention for something and make it happen.
Most of us have probably heard of things like "daily affirmations" as a path to bettering yourself, and that's another variation.
I suppose it's part of the mystique —maybe in service of getting people to spend money on all these workshops — that it tends to get wrapped up into a lot of New Age and psychology mumbo jumbo... when, in fact, we're dealing with something pretty simple here.
The idea that if you focus on something it'll more likely happen is not exactly new. I believe it was industrialist Henry Ford who said "whether you believe you'll succeed or fail you're probably right." In a simplistic sort of way that is an example of what you focus on is likely to be your outcome.
But why does this happen, exactly?
Nothing mumbo-jumbo about it; it's just simply a matter of attention.
Have you ever had something in your life that you really wanted, like maybe a particular breed of dog or a particular make, model and color of car? And have you ever noticed how —even though that particular car or dog is rather uncommon — when you've set your mind to the fact that you'd like one of these all of a sudden you see them everywhere?
Again that's the thing with what you're paying attention to.
Naturally there aren't suddenly more yellow VW beetles or Basset Hounds in the world it's just that you're noticing beetles and basset hounds.
Those are just some very simplistic examples, of course.
If we dig a little deeper what we'll discover is that the human mind can only actively pay attention to a certain number of things. Depending on the person, you're likely to be able to track somewhere between six and twelve things in active memory. You're aware of a whole lot of other stuff but it stays in the passive part of your brain where it's just basically background noise.
When you move something to your active processing it is more likely that something will happen to it.
Consider the case of the dog. Because you're looking for a Basset Hound, you're more likely to notice people posting pictures of their basset hounds on Facebook, and you're definitely more likely to notice a picture of the Basset Hound that's down at the local animal rescue, something you would probably not be paying attention to at all, otherwise.
And because you are paying attention to Basset Hounds you're also more likely to come across opportunities to acquire a Basset Hound. Why? Because you're taking a little more time paying attention to anything related to basset hounds. And so you notice that a Basset Hound is at the animal shelter that you could adopt, or maybe you will discover that those cute Basset Hound puppies that were posted on Facebook actually belong to somebody who's selling puppies.
None of this is exactly rocket science, it's merely a matter of where you're paying attention!
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Created at 2025.10.12 01:25 PST
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