Where something continues to become more and more visible to you? When I think back on different milestones in my life, getting married, becoming a Dad for the first time?  When my wife was first pregnant everywhere I looked I saw pregnant people? Why are there so many?

When a milestone happens in your life, you mental filter opens up, things become more visible to you. The total number of pregnant people doesn’t change, you just notice it more. The problem is this leaves people open for manipulation. For example record producers and the media, could filter information in a way to “make someone famous” by planting the message in to you. This is why they say ‘all publicity is good publicity. If you start hearing about the latest exploits of Tiger Woods, the next time you hear the name you’ll listen a little more closely, and the next time, and on and on. Suddenly, Tiger Woods is a name spoken in the household, at the office water cooler, and he gets endorsements because people recognize him, whether for good or for bad. Why do you think Paris Hilton is so popular?

Another example is that most people tend to thing of themselves as a ‘better’ driver then anyone else. Even I have noticed that when I’m in the passenger seat, I tend to notice the bumps and hard stops of other drivers, that I don’t notice when I am the driver myself. We all look at the world differently, but even from day to day, depending upon our mood, or recent life events, we will notice things we have never noticed before. Sometimes it seems that life has a theme, you keep hearing the same message over and over.  As an experiment this holiday season, get yourself one of those word of the day calendars, look at the word of the day, and notice how often you’ll hear that word over the next few days. You’ll find yourself surprised, as when you first read it you’ll think it’s very uncommon, and then you’ll wonder why you’re hearing it so much.

When I was looking for a new home, I found all of my spam emails telling me about low mortage rates, when I was looking for a car, I got more spam on car sales. It was kind of spooky, how can these marketers know what’s going on in my life? But in reality, the spam was the same as always, I was just noticing certain types of spam more often. I told this story to one guy and he quickly asked me, so what do you think it means that I keep getting a bunch of penis enlargement spams!

Listen to the audio here:

http://www.archive.org/details/BradDetcheverywithbitsfromJimmyFlynnMakingConnections