Originally posted – Sep 09, 2014
The late Hall of Fame baseball manager George “Sparky” Anderson was a down-home, good-hearted, likable and highly intelligent guy. And, during his years managing the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers, he also was a very quotable one.
One of Anderson’s favorite sayings was, “There ain’t no future living in the past.”
When he talked of the “past,” like most people do, he was referring to identifiable objective past observable events that he had experienced – such as perhaps removing a pitcher too early in a game, trading one player for another, or investing in a chain of restaurants that never got off the ground. Stuff like that.
Now, famed psychotherapist Sigmund Freud was also a pretty smart guy. A physician and scientist, he had a thing or two to say about people’s pasts, how the human mind is developed and structured, and exactly how and why the unconscious section of it controls our actions and perceptions of (and reactions to) everything we do for as long as we live.
There are two separate minds that actually create your controlling voice. There is the conscious mind, which thinks freely and creates new ideas and deals with the world as it comes along. And, there is the unconscious (to us) mind, which is actually a super computer loaded with a huge database of programmed behaviors, most of which were acquired well before the age of six.
The unconscious mind cannot move outside of its fixed program. It automatically reacts to situations with its previously stored behavior responses, and it actually works without the knowledge or control of the conscious mind. This is why we are generally unaware of the real reasons why we do what we do; in fact, most of the time (95 percent to 99 percent) we are not even aware of the fact that we are acting unconsciously.
Freud and a number of his followers demonstrated through his “Psychoanalytic Theory” that life and its patterns are essentially determined by the psychological events and conditions one experienced in the past. I’m not talking about 10 years ago, last Thursday or this morning. No, I’m talking about your early childhood past that you cannot recall because it’s no longer conscious.
Freud, in my view, correctly theorized that the human mind is made up of a number of components. One of which he called is the “unconscious” part, which is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts and experiences that form the basis for our lifelong personality, even though we’re totally unaware of these underlying influences that we are always under in everything we do for as long as we live.
The unconscious mind cannot move its fixed programs. It automatically reacts to situations with its previously stored behavior responses and – here’s the amazing part – it works totally automatically without the knowledge or control of the conscious mind.
It’s estimated that our unconscious mind operates at 40 million bits of data per second, while our conscious mind processes only 40 bits per second. Therefore, the unconscious mind is vastly more powerful and influential than the conscious mind, and it is the unconscious mind that shapes how we live.
It’s convenient – and appropriate – to view your mind as an iceberg, with the better part of it (the unconscious portion) existing unseen below the surface and unperceived by you, its owner. Hence, the reasons it’s called the unconscious part.
But for the existence of the unconscious mind, which gives us mental and behavioral stability, we would not be able to function as humans in any predicable manner. It’s your psychological structural foundation.
Animal species other than humans operate primarily on innate and instinctual motivations, since they don’t have an organized unconscious section to their brains. So, when the weather gets cold, birds migrate South solely on instinct with no unconscious underlying motive. Bears hibernate for the same reason. The list is endless.
As humans, we have stability built into our minds controlled by our unconscious brain geography that keeps us stable. With humans, the unconscious mind is the rule, not the exception. Our unconscious adapts us automatically to the present situation and also influences the tracts we lay down to guide our future behavior.
Here’s the cool part – you don’t have to monitor or manage your unconscious mind. Just like, for example, you do not have to monitor or manage your general physiology like breathing, blood pressure or body chemistry. It’s automatically done for you without your conscious awareness.
I believe it’s accurate to say that, regarding your personality and mental functioning, your unconscious is always “minding the store” when you, the owner, are away.
How and why does all of this technical psychological stuff apply to owning and managing a self-service laundry business… or any business, for that matter?
The answer is that it matters a lot. And the more you understand the function of your unconscious mind and how and why it’s so important, the better, smarter and happier a business owner you will become.
In fact, it will help you to make better management and marketing decisions and to become more relaxed and confident – without rushing into things with an exaggerated sense of urgency that typically produces some rather uncomfortable anxiety.
Leonard Mlodinow, Ph.D. describes it best in his book, “Subliminal, How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior.”
“Our unconscious section of our brain is invisible to us,” Dr. Mlodinow writes. “Yet, it influences our total conscious experience of the world in most fundamental ways: how we view ourselves and others, the meanings we attach to everyday events in our lives, our ability to make quick judgments and decisions that can sometimes mean the difference between success or failure and the many actions we engage in.”
He goes on to say: “If you really want to understand the social world, if you really want to understand yourself and others and beyond and that if you really want to overcome many of the obstacles that prevent you from living your fullest, richest life, you need to understand the influence of the subliminal (below the threshold of your consciousness) world that is hidden within each of us.”
It’s been said that nothing important comes with instructions. In this sense, you have to do some inner exploration on yourself to make every attempt to try your best to get in touch with your unconscious. This is not easy by any means, but it’s truly worth the effort.
I’m not remotely suggesting that you engage the services of a professional psychologist – rather that you read as much as possible about the subject, which can often be very enlightening and actually make some of the unconscious aspects of your personality “somewhat” consciously available to you so that you can truly get to know yourself. It will help you to discern the difference between what you believe and what you know.
When you own and manage a small business, such as a self-service laundry, your unconscious mind makes many decisions for you, like it or not. Many of your decisions, reactions and ideas originate and are controlled by your unconscious, automatic responses. Some work out well, and others simply do not, depending upon the nature and content of your unconscious mind.
There are innumerable examples, such as (but surely not limited to) which attendants you hire, the manner in which you treat them, the way you view and deal with customers, the way you react to your competition, the manner in which you manage your money, the way in which you advertise your business – and, yes, certainly the way you view yourself.
Or, how about the possible negative ingredients in our unconscious mind, such as what you fear others are thinking about you, exaggerated concern over not being appreciated and respected, and your reactions to success and failure. The list can be very long.
I admit that this subject is a bit complex, but it’s worth delving into, depending upon your degree of intellectual curiosity. The process can be a bit mentally uncomfortable, because it makes you think deeply. But, in the long run, chasing meaning in all that we do is far better than avoiding discomfort.
It’s interesting and essential to note that the development and structure of our unconscious mind actually happens to us, rather than by us, at a very early age depending on our complex experiences and individual relationships with our parents, the events we are exposed to, our degree of intelligence and our perceptual abilities. It also is shaped by our birth order. The amount of complex variables responsible for the nature of our individual unconscious is huge.
Some of us are just plain fortunate and our unconscious is generally healthy and unencumbered with negative stuff. These people tend to lead peaceful, gratifying and successful lives. However, many (if not most) of us are not so fortunate; for this group, life is often described by them as “tough.” Yet, they make it through despite often generally feeling uncomfortable.
In essence, our life reflects our unconscious programming, which typically begins before we reach the age of 6.
The single best way I can suggest for you to understand your unconscious mind is to buy and read Dr. Mlodinow’s book. It’s the most enjoyable and easily understandable book I’ve ever encountered on the subject, and you will learn how your unconscious mind rules your behavior.
When you read “Subliminal,” it likely will have a dramatic effect on how you conduct your life and make decisions about your business.
Our unconscious mind is neatly tucked away within our brain – yet it controls all that we are and do.
Being an adult is not the solution (or the opposite) to being a child. In reality, because of the extremely strong influence of our unconscious mind, we actually choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
Mind-boggling, huh?
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