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A very important ability for any human to succeed in life is the ability to sense the environment while on the journey towards achieving his/her desired goals. This ability is called as Sensory Acuity. This ability is important for the following reasons:

1. It helps us in knowing whether we are getting closer towards our goals. i.e. to serve as a feedback mechanism for us.
2. It helps us to spot problems in advance, before they hit us. If we know what’s coming our way, we can change our approach.
3. It helps us to predict the behavior of people based on their body language. Remember that people can lie and manipulate us, however the human body is not designed to lie. It usually reveals the truth, provided one is able to read body language.

At a very young age, humans are known to have very strong sensory acuity. Children scan the environment completely and can read the body language of a parent and know in advance what their response is going to be. Also, at a young age, most of the sensory organs are very sensitive to various stimuli. Our sensory inputs come in through our eyes, ears, nose, skin, i.e. touch and taste. It is said that we also have a pineal gland that acts as an alternate sensory organ.

 

As we grow up, our sensory organs lose their ability to sense and very often that is because we do not use these.

For example, we humans lose our peripheral vision as we become adults. You’d remember that in school we were taught that our eyes have ‘Rod cells’ and ‘Cone cells’ (One type gives us Focal vision and the other Peripheral vision) . However, over the years, we get conditioned to just focus, focus and focus, thereby losing our peripheral vision to a large extent. I have read somewhere that focal vision is just 10-20% and remaining 80% is peripheral vision.

So, this means that as adults, we are probably using only 20% of our vision and sensory ability. In fact, we lose a lot of other sensory abilities. for example, do you know that humans have the ability to see without using eyes. We are able to get visual input even from our skin and other sensory organs. A course offered these days, called Mid Brain Activation, can help children (in the age bracket 5-15 Years) to develop this vision. My daughter who has attended this course can see with her feet. if she is completely blindfolded and you place a document under her feet, she is able to read it perfectly.

What I’m trying to tell you is that  with damaged sensory acuity, we are unable to read our environment properly and that reduces our prospects of achieving our goals. We have actually become so distracted that we end up losing 80% of what’s happening around us and again out of what all goes inside, how much we are able to decode and process is probably another aspects that we need to consider.

I suggest that henceforth, whenever you are doing anything, immerse yourself completely in any task. Do not engage in Multi-tasking . Actually, we have a completely incorrect understanding of Multitasking and what we end up doing is Multiple tasks together, which simply divides our attention thereby reducing sensory inputs. When listening to people look at them, and observe their body using your peripheral vision. observe their eyes, posture, gestures and Skin.

 

You will receive valuable inputs that will guide you towards working out your approach and thereby lead you towards success.

The Reticular Activation System or the R.A.S in the human brain is what helps us find what we are seeking. It helps in spotting that particular thing or highlights those paths in the environment around us that can lead us towards what we are seeking.

To give an example, It works similar to an operator in a Telephone exchange who would connect an incoming caller to someone within a region or organization that he/she wants to connect with.

To activate the R.A.S, we must essentially be seeking something. Then the R.A.S. gets activated and starts hunting for ways, means and paths towards that what we are looking for.

Let me give you an example of how this works.  Let’s say that one fine day, you a desire to buy a red colored compact car. Once once this goal is set, in the next 7-10 days you would suddenly start spotting red colored compact cars everywhere around you. You’ll find them in parking lots, on the highways, at the Toll Plaza and probably a few in your neighborhood.

Note that you weren’t spotting these cars earlier. The cars were always there but now because the R.A.S is activated, it is bringing those into your conscious observation through the sensory route. You might suddenly spot a seller of a Red compact car or probably find a car dealership nearby or spot a scheme for Car finance in the newspaper next day.

Activating the R.A.S is done by means of Goal setting. We need to set clear goals and then also become passionate about achieving each of that goal. Then the ways and means to achieve those goals simply open up in front of us.

It is said that whatever you are seeking in life is also seeking you. However, the meeting point of you and what you are seeking happens when your mind is open to possibilities and is eagerly and passionately looking for that thing. Then the entire universe then conspires with you to convert that goal into a reality.

Success is something that everyone is seeking, be it on personal or professional front. However, in the absence of a reliable formula, we keep trying hard often without success and finally give up. We often keep looking at a few others who have succeeded and wonder how they were able to succeed while we have put in much more effort than them. 

Well ..it turns out that success is not dependent on the amount of effort that is put into a task. It actually depends on whether we are using the right process to achieve success. 

There is a formula for success, which I have figured out after closely observing a lot of people who were successful in what they were doing. The formula is very simple and straightforward and if followed well, can definitely lead one to success. 

Success requires the following two key ingredients. 

1. A Rigid goal 

2. A flexible Approach    

Let me explain the above by means of an example. How many of you have observed children at the age of 5 years. You would agree children at that age have an extremely  high success rate in terms of getting what they want, whether it is a toy, a balloon, cookies or a chocolate. How do they manage this. Do they have many years of experience? have they attended training so as to develop this skill of influencing and convincing?

If the answer is NO, then how are they able to get what they want. How we get what we want, with a near to 100% success rate. The answer is simple. We need to ensure the two key ingredients.

1. A completely rigid goal and
2. A completely flexible approach. 

Let’s take a scenario where a 5 year old girl has a craving for chocolates and she knows that nobody at home would allow her to have that since it was time to go to bed and she had already finished brushing. She tries convincing her mother, who refuses point blank. Do you think this girl would go to bed without that chocolate. Never. Now she tries convincing her dad. He too refuses and asks her to go to bed, knowing that his wife will be really upset if he allows her to have it. Do you think the child goes to bed without the chocolate.. Never. now the child tried other ways to get it. Probably tries emotional blackmail with grand parents knowing that the melting point of their hearts is lower .. and if that too doesn’t work then will try other innovative ways to get it. Probably will try whining and disturbing parents as they watch their favorite TV series or if that too doesn’t work, will fall down, cry hoping that parents will give the chocolate to pacify her. 

Only when she finally gets the chocolate, then she’s going to bed. Also, if you try to offer her something else instead of the chocolate, do you think she is willing .. Never. She would either refuse all that or else take all of that and then again keep pushing for the chocolate that she has set her heart on. Parents, however smart cannot negotiate with a 5 year old. 

Now if you look at the approach of the child, you will find that the child is using exactly the same two principles. 

1. A Rigid or Non Negotiable Goal 

2. A flexible approach

These two attributes lead to success. Let’s now understand both of these in a little more detail. 

Rigid Goal: 

You will find that people who are successful always have very clear goals and they have a very high level of commitment and determination towards their goals. They never let go their dreams and goals even when faced with adversity, failure and barriers. They get up and continue on their path even when they fail multiple times. They do not change their goals when they fail. When Edison was working on the light bulb and failed a thousand times, somebody asked him about his failure and he said, ” Now I know 1000 Things that Don’t work as the filament” and went ahead with his work till the time he came across the Tungsten filament. 

Flexible Approach: 

Flexibility in approach means that we try doing things in a different manner to achieve the desired goals. In science, we all know that there is a very simple principle that applies to all experiments i.e. If we keep doing the same things as before, we will keep getting the same results as before” . If we want a different result, then we essentially need to do something different. Successful People know that if a particular approach has led them to failure, then doing the same things again exactly in the same way will get them exactly to the same result as before. Therefore they identify what part of their process needs to be changed and then try again in a different manner, and when they do this repeatedly, they finally land up with the right combination that leads them to success. 

In contrast, unsuccessful people, like horses have Blinkers (Blinkers, sometimes known as blinders, are a piece of horse tack that prevent the horse seeing to the rear and, in some cases, to the side.) These Blinkers prevent people from seeing other possibilities and roads that lead to our goal.

In school, we all learnt a quote that “If you fail once, then keep trying”, unfortunately whoever created that quote forgot to put something at the end … 

“If you fail once, then keep trying — in a different direction” 

People who are creative and keep trying in various ways have a much greater probability of success than those who aren’t.

Action Point:

Ask yourself–> 

1. Do I have a clear goal?

2. Am I committed towards achieving it even when faced with repeated failure?

3. Do I have Horse- Blinders which can enable you to spot different approaches?

4. Am I willing to trying various approaches in the journey towards that goal?

Very often, we lack the courage and confidence to allow the possibility of failure. Successful people know that failure is a step towards success.