Your brain filters 11 million bits of info down to just 40 that reach your awareness. The crazy part? You can reprogram this filter to spot opportunities.
The story
I just learned something wild about how our brains actually work, and it’s kind of blowing my mind.
So your conscious brain can only process about 40 bits of information that reach your awareness, while your brain processes 11 million bits per second total. This means the vast majority of what you experience never makes it to your conscious mind. Your brain has this filter called the Reticular Activating System that decides what gets through.
Here’s where it gets interesting: you can actually program this filter.
Attila B. Horvath breaks this down in Chapter 6 of “The Journey – I wish I knew this before I was 21.” He explains how visualization isn’t just positive thinking. When you clearly visualize what you want, you’re literally reprogramming your RAS to notice opportunities that were always there but invisible to you.
That’s why when you decide you want a red car, you suddenly see them everywhere. They were always there. Your brain just started letting them through the filter.
The subconscious is doing the heavy lifting. Your job is just to point it in the right direction through clear mental images and genuine belief.
Most people never learn to use this system intentionally. They let their mental filter run on autopilot, programmed by whatever random beliefs they picked up along the way.
Understanding how selective perception actually works changes everything about how you approach goals.
For more about Chapter 6 of Attila B. Horvath’s book, “The Journey – I wish I knew this before I was 21”, visit https://attilahorvath.net/the-journey.
