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1. People can only see what is important to them
2. The Psychological Blind Spot: “Scotoma”
3. People are not actually seeing with their eyes.
4. The Trap of the Comfort Zone
5. Change Your Efficacy
6. When the Scotoma Is Removed
7. What Is the True Goal?
8. Change Yourself Without Changing Your Environment
9. Summary

People can only see what is important to them

Try drawing the design of the watch or smartphone you normally use without looking at it.

Most people make three to six mistakes.

Even though they’ve seen it countless times.

Next, if you ask them, “What time was it just now?”, again, most people answer incorrectly.

That’s because their attention was focused on the design to double-check the first question.

You see far less than you think you do.

From this, we can understand that:

• People can only see what is important to them.
• People can only see what they are prepared to see.
• When people focus on one piece of information, they can no longer see the others.

Many people become stuck viewing things from only one perspective, and even when a problem occurs, they fail to notice that the problem exists at all.

Do not assume that what you see or think you see is everything.

Even if you don’t notice it, important information may be right in front of you — and the reason you can’t see it is because of the value system you’ve built over the years: “This is important,” “That is important,” and so on.

Our brain is such that when we concentrate on one piece of information, all other information becomes invisible.

The Psychological Blind Spot: “Scotoma”

This is called a “scotoma.”The word comes from Greek and means a blind spot.As we saw in the watch experiment, our world is full of scotomas — a world where information constantly slips through the cracks.First, recognize that the world you see is full of scotomas.An important concept about scotomas is that we often don’t know what we truly want.From childhood, beliefs about what is important are unconsciously implanted in us.These beliefs aren’t necessarily imposed intentionally by someone; they may come from society itself, teachers, parents, or even be influenced by advertising agencies or television.In other words, what we truly want or consider important is often something we ourselves are not even aware of.

People are not actually seeing with their eyes.

Humans do not see the world directly with their eyes. Rather, our eyes convert light based on the conditioning and teachings we have received so far.If the beliefs about what is important do not align with the information coming through the eyes, the brain filters out the light and makes it invisible.Even if a solution is right in front of us when a problem occurs, if we feel that solving it is impossible, the brain will make the solution invisible.I’ll repeat this: do not assume that what you see or hear is everything.The moment you think that way, the things you cannot see multiply.Many people believe that the truths they hold are everything, but those “truths” are only their own beliefs, and the basis for those beliefs is often outdated.Do not take what you believe to be true as the ultimate truth.Always keep in mind that you have scotomas—psychological blind spots.

The Trap of the Comfort Zone

A scotoma represents everything we cannot see while we remain in our current situation.The current situation is familiar to us, and we consider it important.This comfortable, familiar domain—the current state—is called the comfort zone.For example, when you go to your usual store, you feel safe; but when you go to a bar for the first time, you feel a bit uneasy.In short, our brain always interprets familiar spaces as safe and secure.

When we are in our comfort zone, we naturally feel relaxed.

We can only perform at our best when we are relaxed.

Because our brain needs us to be in a relaxed state to perform, it tends to prefer maintaining the status quo.

For example, for someone earning 5 million yen a year to reach an income of 20 million yen, they need to shift their comfort zone to the level of 20 million yen.A person currently earning 5 million yen may have the opportunity to earn 20 million yen right in front of them, but they cannot see it due to a scotoma.However, because of the brain’s homeostatic function, it is difficult to break free from maintaining the status quo.For instance, even people who constantly think, “I want money” or “Is there a way to make money?” often fail to become wealthy because being without money has become their comfort zone.

Change Your Efficacy

If you want to increase your income, you need to shift your comfort zone.To do that, you must change your efficacy.“Efficacy” refers to your self-assessment of your ability to achieve your goals.You need to change your efficacy from an income of 5 million yen to 20 million yen, and thoroughly visualize it.By doing so, your unconscious mind will start treating an income of 20 million yen as your new comfort zone.

When the Scotoma Is Removed

When this happens, two things occur.First, the scotoma is removed.With the scotoma gone, someone earning 5 million yen can now see ways to earn 20 million yen that were previously invisible.Second, their true goal becomes visible.The comfort zone of the current situation hides the truly desired goal behind a scotoma.

What Is the True Goal?

When searching for your true goal, it’s fine to start with a goal within your current situation.However, it’s also helpful to identify one goal that feels out of reach for your current self — something you truly want to become.Then, vividly imagine the version of yourself that exists in order to achieve that goal.As you do this, the scotoma blocking your path to the goal begins to disappear, and your unconscious mind starts to understand how to achieve it.Through homeostasis, you will naturally begin taking actions to reach your goal.Your true goal becomes visible as well.For some people, this process may need to be repeated several times, but when you finally recognize your true goal, you will feel certain and think, “Ah, this is it.”

Change Yourself Without Changing Your Environment

Modern people tend to lower their goals when they think achieving them will be too difficult.For example:“I really want to become a company president, but it seems too tough, so I’ll aim to be a department manager.”“I really want to be a professional boxer, but it’s too challenging, so I’ll just work as a company employee.”This is a common tendency that needs to be corrected.In other words, instead of changing your environment, you need to change yourself.By not lowering your goals, you force yourself to grow and transform.

Summary

This time, we covered Part 5 of the summary of How to Use the Remaining 97% of Your Brain by Hideto Tomabechi — Goal-Achievement Methods You Should Know to Live the Life You Want!!What did you think of it?

For achieving your goals, it’s important to remove your scotomas and vividly imagine yourself already accomplishing them!!I hope this article can help you, even a little, in making your dreams and goals come true!!I’ll do my best too…!!

Next time, continuing from this part, we’ll cover Part 6 of the summary of How to Use the Remaining 97% of Your Brain by Hideto Tomabechi — How to Remove Scotomas (Blind Spots) for Goal Achievement and a Concrete Mental Training Program!!Stay tuned!!