Training Your RAS: Teaching Your Brain What to Notice
Sep 29, 2025
Every second, your brain receives over 11 million inputs—but you consciously process only about 40. The Reticular Activating System (RAS), a filter in your brainstem, decides what makes it through.
Your RAS is why you suddenly notice every red car after buying one or hear your name in a crowded room. It highlights what you’ve trained it—consciously or unconsciously—to value.
Here’s the kicker:
- Untrained RAS: amplifies distractions, self-doubt, or fatigue.
- Trained RAS: locks onto cues that keep you steady, efficient, and focused.
This isn’t about “positive thinking”—it’s about precision focus. By programming your RAS, you shift how you experience reality itself.
Simple Tools to Train Your RAS
- RAS Priming Script – Read a short focus script before training, work, or performance. Example: “Today I notice my breath, rhythm, and strength.”
- Cue Conditioning – Pick 2–3 performance cues (e.g., breath, posture) and affirm them whenever they appear.
- Distraction Filter Map – List top distractions and pair each with a redirect cue (e.g., touch wristband, say “lock in”).
- Post-Session Reflection – Journal: What did I notice most? What was my RAS filtering for?
Try It This Week
- Write and use a personal priming script before each session.
- Install one redirect cue for a common distraction.
- Journal one workout or meeting with focus reflections.
Thoughts to Live By
What you see isn’t the whole picture—it’s what your mind has been trained to notice. Your focus builds your reality, moment by moment, thought by thought.
When I learned to train my attention, I realized how often I’d been practicing distraction without knowing it. Now, each breath, each cue, each point of awareness becomes a choice—a quiet declaration of what matters most.
If this blog stirred something in you, look ahead to the release of The Law of Distraction this January. This course will guide you in retraining your mind’s filters, mastering your attention, and learning how to see what truly serves your growth—whether you’re performing, leading, competing, or simply showing up in life.
Your perception is your practice. Train it wisely.
