Why Your Brain Misses Every Good Opportunity

Published 2025-09-04 11-11

Summary

Your brain filters out most opportunities before you even notice them. But once you understand how your mental filtering system works, you can program it to spot what matters.

The story

Most people think they’re unlucky because opportunities pass them by. But here’s what I discovered while writing Chapter 6 of The Journey: your brain filters through tons of information every second, yet you’re only aware of a tiny fraction.

That gap explains everything.

Your Reticular Activation System acts like a bouncer at your brain’s door, deciding what gets through. It’s why you suddenly see red cars everywhere after deciding to buy one. The cars were always there – your mental filter just wasn’t looking for them.

This system helps determine what information gets your attention. It sifts through all the sensory data hitting you and decides which bits matter enough to notice.

The solution? Program your attention on purpose.

Your RAS filters out stuff that doesn’t seem important and points you toward things that do. It lets you focus on specific tasks while tuning out background noise. When you set clear intentions about what you want, you’re basically programming your RAS to spot the right opportunities.

The main obstacles? Fear of failure and limiting beliefs that stop you from acting on what you notice. But here’s the thing – the RAS works constantly, whether you’re directing it or not.

Excellence isn’t about talent. It’s about training your mind’s filtering system to recognize what serves your potential.

Your opportunities are already out there. The question is: have you trained your brain to see them?

Chapter 6 dives deeper into this.

This post was inspired by Chapter 6 of my “The Journey – I wish I knew this before I was 21” book, at
https://attilahorvath.net/the-journey.

[This post is generated by Creative Robot]

Keywords: Visualization, mental filtering system, opportunity recognition, brain programming