Originally Posted On: https://raptordigitalmarketing.com/2024/09/22/what-you-aim-at-determines-what-you-see/
What you Aim at Determines what you see
An interesting study was done by Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris on focus and what gets our attention. I wish I had seen this video before understanding how our vision and brain works together, but I think I’ll get just as much joy giving you the test as if I had taken it myself.
In this video there are 6 players passing basketballs. 3 of the players are wearing black shirts and 3 are wearing white.
Watch the video and as instructed count how many times the players in white shirts pass the basketball.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo&t=39s
If you’ve seen this video before then you probably remember the outcome and surprise of a man in a gorilla suit previously unnoticed to the focused eye on the white shirted players.
If you’ve never seen this video before now and did see the gorilla right from the get-go congratulations! Or maybe not. I’ll get to that.
If you didn’t see the gorilla until it was pointed out, don’t fret or agonize that you are unintelligent or absent minded. Actually some data suggests that the opposite could be true.
When this experiment was initially given in 1999 only 54% of participants saw the man in the gorilla suit, leaving 46% who didn’t.
Let’s just round to an even 50/50.
There were a lot of reasons for studying people’s attention spans, ability to notice things outside their periferie and the like, but my focus is on the very basic principle of what we are focusing on is what we will see and inevitably achieve.
Only 1% is clear
Here’s something new I learned this week.
The fovea of the eye is the most central and clear part of our vision. As of this moment your fovea or focus is on the words you are reading. Without stopping your reading, notice how clear everything else is to you.
For me I can see apps on my desktop screen, but they aren’t clear. I know the blue one is photoshop and the red one is acrobat pro. I also noticed the chrome browser icon.
Off my desktop I can see an hourglass and a large poster of branched timeline opportunities I had printed.
Everything beyond the words I am writing are blurry. EVERYTHING.
OK so there is the possibility I have bad eyesight but I doubt it since last checked it was 80/10 (better than 80/20 for the non-optometrists such as me who needed an explanation).
How was the experiment for you? Blurry or clear?
1 – 2% of all of our vision is clear with the rest blurry. This explains why our eyes twitch around and why we look at where we are going, what we are doing and hopefully who we are speaking to.
Why we achieve what we aim at
I have always been a goal chaser and conqueror. Failure literally isn’t in my vocabulary. That sounds like motivational talk but it’s a part of my personal philosophy.
I’ve never had to self-talk myself into not giving up on things, I think it’s because embedded in my personality is the knowledge that if I focus very determined on the thing that I want, that eventually I will get it.
I have actually had to spend more time on self reflection on my desires, ethics and spirituality in order to make sure the thing I am aiming at is good not just for me but humanity before I go chasing it.
This principle works for everyone in the human race.
You don’t need some gift to get exactly what you want.
If you are a reader of the bible you’ve probably heard “ask and ye shall receive”. Quran? Your Lord has proclaimed, “Call upon Me, I will respond to you”. In Buddhism it’s the concept of dara which I won’t go into in this letter.
Most religious and social texts confirm that we will undoubtedly receive what we aim at. If I haven’t convinced you of this by now I’m not sure I’ll be able to.
Picking what to aim at
This is the most difficult of things to do.
For the uber successful, often the things they have aimed at have been the right things to make more money, get stronger and fitter, or attract a healthy mate.
All good aspirations but maybe not always the goal they want as much as they know they need.
Life requires a certain amount of “sweat of thy brow” work. None of us get out alive and that becomes much more certain if we refuse to feed ourselves.
If you are in a stage of still wondering about your next meal, your initial focus should be to focus on food to your table, shelter, clothing and basic safety.
Beyond that you can add in education and some excitement or entertainment.
I would suggest aiming at a relationship with God no matter your religion should be number 1 above all this, including food.
Assuming that all of these needs are met, finding what to aim at might be particularly difficult.
Here is what worked for me.
For a long time I desired to aim at the right things, not just the things that made sense to aim for.
Everything seemed like a splurge and if it didn’t add to my family or income I had a very hard time pursuing it.
What finally worked for me was to force myself to spend just 15 minutes per day trying things I found just remotely interesting.
If you know me personally you’ve probably observed my business building, mountain running, break-dancing and more side to some of the time. All of these were things I’ve tried with some sticking and others not (enter breakdancing).
My advice is pick something, anything.
It doesn’t matter in the beginning, just pick a thing and spend a bit of time focusing on it.
Eventually the right things will present themselves and you’ll know it.
You’ll have a hard time getting them out of your head, you’ll smile as you progress and your veins will fill and pulse with excitement they have been thirstily craving for years.
As I finish this week’s letter I’m smiling, hoping you already have a thought in your head of something you can aim at a little better this next week, year and life.
Take care my friend,
-Joseph
