Consciously influence your subconscious future

Have you ever noticed yourself seeing something more clearly after being exposed to it? A few years ago I purchased a snake plant and then began seeing snake plants EVERYWHERE. Look around and you’ll see this resilient plant at every retailer or restaurant.

Do you ever catch yourself using new vocabulary words? The more often I read, the more often I catch myself using new words in conversation then having to look up their definition.

If these types of scenarios are happening to you then you are most likely consciously influencing your subconscious future. And, unbeknownst to us, we are unconsciously influencing our subconscious future.

How much are we being influenced by those Spotify or Hulu advertisements? How about those tweets or IG posts? Or, the onslaught of negativity from news headlines? What about that 5th cynical article about a 2020 political candidate? The answer is most likely yes because merely being exposed to things in our environment can greatly influence us.

Thus, we have work to do. We have to consciously organize our environment so it doesn’t unconsciously influence us.

This is why you consciously buy a Brita filter. Now, you have to consciously buy a Brita filter for your life.

Behavioral Economists have learned this when discussing System 1 and System 2 thinking.

• “We know from studies in priming that unnoticed stimuli in our environment have a substantial influence on our thoughts and actions. These influences fluctuate from moment to moment. The brief pleasure of a cool breeze on a hot day may make you slightly more positive and optimistic about whatever you are about you waiting at the time. A convict being granted parole may change significantly depending on the parole judges’ lunch schedule. Because you have a little direct knowledge of what goes on in your mind, you will never know that you might have made a different judgment or reached a different decision under very slightly different circumstances.”
  — Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow

James Clear discusses this in his book Atomic Habits:

• “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. This is why habits are crucial. They cast repeated votes for being a type of person.” -James Clear

And, this is what Alexandra Horowitz shows us in On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes.

• What allowed me to see the bits that I would have otherwise missed was not the expertise of my walkers, per se; it was their simple interest in attending. I selected these walkers for their ability to boost my own selective attention. An expert can only indicate what she sees; it is up to your own head to tune your senses and your brain to see it. Once you catch that melody, and keep humming, you are forever changed. -Alexandra Horowitz

So, go get your metaphorical snake plant and consciously influence your subconscious future.