The Racecar Effect

The Racecar Effect is something that I came up with a few summers ago while chatting with a good friend of mine who also happens to be a professional racecar driver. After one of his races, I mentioned how frightening I thought it must be to go around a track at such a high rate of speed because the slightest mistake could spell disaster. I could just imagine myself careening into the wall or another car if one of my tires accidentally slipped or I hit a slick spot on the track. That’s when my friend told me something that I will never forget. He said that no matter what happens out on the track, you must keep your eyes focused in the direction that you want your car to go. Do not look at the wall on your right, do not look at the car that you’re about to hit-keep your attention focused in the direction that you want to go–it is the only hope that you have of being able to pull yourself out of the impending disaster. If you lose your focus and look at the wall for even a split second, you’re toast.

I don’t ever intend to put his advice to the test out on a racetrack (though with the number of speeding tickets that I’ve had on normal streets, maybe I should give racing a try) but I can absolutely see how his advice can be applied to everyday life–especially when it comes to pursuing our passions and living into the FabYOUlous visions that we’ve created for our lives. As human beings, we tend to gravitate towards the things upon which we focus. If we are focusing on all of the crappy and unfortunate circumstances in our life, we will slam into that brick wall and break apart. On the other hand, if we focus on the positive aspects of our lives and the exciting goals that we have created for ourselves, we will naturally move towards those things and bring more of those positive experiences into our lives.

This Racecar Effect is one reason that I believe having a vision board is such a critical component to manifesting our most meaningful desires. When I create a vision board and keep it front and center in my life (I do this by hanging my vision board in my office where I see it every day and by having it uploaded as the screensaver on my computer and as the lock screen image on my iPhone), I force myself to focus upon those inspiring and energizing images instead of the brick wall that threatens to smash me to pieces. As a FabYOUlous Life reader, you’ve likely already read some of my posts about the value of having a vision board (you can check out one of those posts here) and hopefully have already put yours together. However, even the most intentional among us can sometimes slip up and go days or weeks (sometimes even months) without taking the time to really focus upon the incredible vision that we have for our lives. Fortunately, we aren’t really in a racecar that is flying around a track at breakneck speed, but nonetheless, taking our eyes off of our intended direction can have dire consequences and (if not quickly rectified) cause our glorious dreams and visions to crash & burn as they slam into the brick wall of doubt and defeat.

MY VISION BOARD

By remembering this Racecar Effect, and using it to our advantage, we can train ourselves to remain focused upon our goals, even when there is chaos going on around us. By strategically using our vision boards, we can raise our vibrational frequency by generating enthusiasm and excitement around our vision and powerfully charge our Reticular Activating System (the part of our brain that acts as a filter between our conscious and subconscious mind) so that it is primed and ready to help us gather the information that we need in order to turn our vision into a reality. If we stay the course, keep our foot on the gas pedal (even if we have to let up occasionally) and keep our eye on the prize, we will eventually feel the thrill of victory as we cross the finish line and experience the checkered flag as we manifest our magnificence.