“Let Me Sleep On It” Unleashes the Power of Your Subconscious Mind

Like it or not, your brain can only hold one thought: positive or negative. When we have a challenge or a problem, many of us focus on?the?problem or challenge.

Humans are teleological in nature, meaning we become what we think about most of the time; we naturally move toward what we think about, whether positive or negative. Teleologic is like a guided missile set on a course that self-corrects along the route.

When you have a problem, you want to solve the damn thing, so your first tactic is to consciously figure out “How do I deal with this?” You keep thinking about the problem and how you are going to deal with it. You think “how are you going fix it.” This can work, but there is a better, quicker, and less stressful way.

Change your thinking. Focus on the solution instead.

When you set a goal for something you want, you create a mental image of the desired outcome. Doing so automatically triggers a seed of thought into the Reticular Activating System or RAS. What is that? In simple terms, it’s our subconscious. We are unaware at the conscious level of the thought, but it’s getting attention in our subconscious!

Perhaps the following examples will help explain this in relatable terms.

1. Have you ever bought a new car? Not necessarily brand new, just new to you. Maybe you thought it was unique and different from any others out there, but while you're enjoying driving your new car around town, seemingly out of the blue, there's one, there's one, and here comes another one. “Where did they all come from? Were they there before?” They were always there, but you didn't see them because they weren't important to you. Your RAS and how it functions have heightened your awareness.
2. I never noticed the incredible number of billboards for trial attorneys along the highway until a friend pointed it out during a conversation. Now, all I see are those darn billboards! Were those billboards always there? Yes, they were. I just never noticed them because, fortunately, they are not important to me, at least not yet.

Things like that are there all the time, but unless they are of value to us, they don't register. It's like we have a scotoma, a blind spot.

So what, who cares, and what does that have to do with anything?

It turns out that the more you set clear and concise goals – especially in writing, such as in a journal – the more the goal images are absorbed into your RAS, unbeknownst to you. Suddenly, you have these aha moments and intuitive thoughts and may even experience a deja vu feeling. Suddenly, you see it everywhere it comes up.

It’s because you magically seem to have a heightened awareness, a focus on the thought triggered by how you set and reinforced your goals.

Applying this concept to our problem

Think about the Reticular Activating System and how it works. When dwelling on the problem, the RAS will show you things you don't really need to see regarding how bad the problem is.

The better way is to think about a solution, not?how?to deal with the problem. This is a very subtle shift in your focus. From now on, when you have a problem, instead of focusing on it, shift your thinking to what the solution could be to remove the need to cope with the problem.

Here’s an example of how this works.

Working with a coaching client, I asked him, “What's the problem?” He told me the problem in emotionally packed details. Then I asked him, “What's your solution?” He said he didn't know; he didn't have a replacement picture of an ideal outcome.

I said, “Get a piece of clean paper, and on the top, write the following question, “What would the ideal outcome look like and feel like fixed?” Don’t write sentences; give me words.” He struggled and said, “If I knew how I would solve it.” I said I know that you don't know yet. I also knew that he didn't know about the RAS.

This exercise is a great way to strategically give information to your RAS just by writing trigger words. Here's the exciting thing most people don't know: When facing a problem, they should think about what solving it would?feel like.

If you write about what the ideal outcome feels and looks like, the RAS is so amazing that it effortlessly gets you started, focused on a solution, and no longer focused on the problem.

Don't Coerce Me!

Approaching a problem this way helps remove stress, which increases energy and creative thinking about solutions. Pretty soon you’ll be saying, “I can do this, I could do that”. It's not magic; it's mental technology. Here's the key: If you try hard to find the answer, it doesn't work. Why? Because your conscious mind does not like to be coerced, it pushes back.

When your consciousness pushes back, it says, “I don't like to be coerced.” The brain works 24-7 in your subconscious to avoid pain at any cost while looking for pleasure.

That’s the key. In anything you're about to do, if you could see a slight smidgen of pleasure, you might do it, but if it comes across as pain, you won't, and if you try hard to find a solution, you push back.

If you relax and let it go, that’s what causes the RAS to go, click, click, click, click and start looking for ways to reach that pleasurable end state.

Staying in a relaxed state of mind rather than trying harder allows the creative subconscious mind to come up with a solution; remember that we’re teleological by nature.

The Bang at 3:00 AM

That’s why you're in a deep sleep until bang, all of a sudden, it's 3 a.m., and you just woke up with a great solution. Your subconscious mind doesn't care if you're asleep; it doesn’t need sleep, and it will give you an answer. It’s driven to keep going and come up with something.

When that happens, make sure you write it down. Sometimes when it comes, it’s complete, and sometimes it’s just pieces. Some people think that it's magic. It's not magic; it’s just using your brain power productively by leveraging your RAS.

Now, you know how to state problems in terms of desired outcomes and let your mental machinery loose to find solutions.

The more clarity about the desired outcome, the more the RAS engages in its job. Since our mind does its best work when we’re in a relaxed state, state the problem in terms of desired outcomes, stop trying so hard, and trust your subconscious mind to serve up the solutions.

I’d love to hear how your RAS has impacted your life.