I'm quickly becoming a huge fan of Scott Adams. Best known for his comic strip, Dilbert, I have run into his other work twice now that I've found very fascinating. The first was his assertion that Donald Trump used hypnotic persuasion techniques to capture the presidency, and I covered that in a previous post.
The second interesting idea is analyzed in his interview with Tim Ferriss. I am currently reading Ferriss's new book, Tools of Titans (review in progress), and Ferriss mentions Scott Adams' second idea briefly, which prompted me to immediately listen to the full podcast interview.
What's that second idea?
In short, it is the idea that affirming your desires them more prone to becoming a reality. Having practiced this himself, Adams noted that he would assert his affirmations by writing them down at least ten times per day. For example, prior to his success with Dilbert, he would write down something along the lines "I will become a famous cartoonist."
Of course, you could chalk this one instance up as coincidence; however, Adams asserted that he has done this numerous times. One of them was spooky specific: he once affirmed himself that he would score within the top 94th percentile on the GMAT test. Lo and behold, it happened, right at that exact number.
Adams himself admits he has no rational explanation why this has worked. He does pose one theory. I can't remember what it's precisely called, but basically, it's the same principle behind why we still hear our name spoken in a room of crowded people. We are primed to react when our name is spoken, regardless of the distractions.
In the same way, then, Adams proposes that our brains may "re-wire" themselves to be more selective of anything to positively influence whatever our affirmation is.
It's a really interesting idea, and because the barrier of entry costs nothing more than a pen and paper, I'm going to give it a whirl myself. I'm not going to tell you now what my affirmation is because I honestly don't want to be embarrassed if it falls through! If it does come true, I'll write a follow up post to this one documenting my findings in conjunction to Adams's theory. I'd also encourage you all to give it a try, too!
The second interesting idea is analyzed in his interview with Tim Ferriss. I am currently reading Ferriss's new book, Tools of Titans (review in progress), and Ferriss mentions Scott Adams' second idea briefly, which prompted me to immediately listen to the full podcast interview.
What's that second idea?
In short, it is the idea that affirming your desires them more prone to becoming a reality. Having practiced this himself, Adams noted that he would assert his affirmations by writing them down at least ten times per day. For example, prior to his success with Dilbert, he would write down something along the lines "I will become a famous cartoonist."
Of course, you could chalk this one instance up as coincidence; however, Adams asserted that he has done this numerous times. One of them was spooky specific: he once affirmed himself that he would score within the top 94th percentile on the GMAT test. Lo and behold, it happened, right at that exact number.
Adams himself admits he has no rational explanation why this has worked. He does pose one theory. I can't remember what it's precisely called, but basically, it's the same principle behind why we still hear our name spoken in a room of crowded people. We are primed to react when our name is spoken, regardless of the distractions.
In the same way, then, Adams proposes that our brains may "re-wire" themselves to be more selective of anything to positively influence whatever our affirmation is.
It's a really interesting idea, and because the barrier of entry costs nothing more than a pen and paper, I'm going to give it a whirl myself. I'm not going to tell you now what my affirmation is because I honestly don't want to be embarrassed if it falls through! If it does come true, I'll write a follow up post to this one documenting my findings in conjunction to Adams's theory. I'd also encourage you all to give it a try, too!
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