The Secret of The To Do List

Do you ever make a list of things that you need to buy when you go to the store so you will not forget the reason that you went there in the first place? Do you write down birthdays, doctor's appointments and when you have a hair appointment?


If so you are well on your way to using a very important part of your brain, you are engaging the RAS.
What you may ask is the RAS. RAS stands for Reticular Activating System. The RAS is located in the part of the brain refer to as the Brain Stem. This very small part of your brain has a very important job. The RAS is the control center for incoming data and information.

Think of the RAS as the receptionist for your mind. A good receptionist knows when a message is urgent, and when a message is not that important and can wait. So the RAS takes a look at incoming data and decides to send important message on and non urgent messages to the subconscious.

Let me give you an example of RAS in action. My Husband and I were attending a reception for new members. We did not really know anyone other then each other. We started to meet and greet, when my husband was in the middle of explaining to several people what he does for a living. I was listening to the conversation but I now know that my RAS was scanning in a much wider circle. Because suddenly my ears starts to pick up a conversation from across the room, a woman was telling another group about playing her Harp for Christmas Eve Services at her Church.

Now what you may not know about me is that I am a Bowed Psaltery player who is working her way up to Celtic Harpist. My RAS heard the word "Harp" and it went into action to quickly get my attention. I looked around to see who was speaking, waiting for a break in the conversation for the group I was standing in. I excused myself and went across the room to introduce myself and ask the women "Did I just hear you say you play the Harp"?

We started a wonderful conversation, exchanged info (email, FB and cell phone) and have kept in touch. I have a new friend thanks to my RAS.

Another example involves a purse. My dear friend Krisann Blair who runs http://christmasorganizing.com was showing me her new Vera Bradley purse. This brand is a very distinctive fabric purse. I had never really taken notice of this brand before. But the following Sunday at church I notice for the first time two women had Vera Bradley purses. Suddenly my RAS was set in motion to scan for this particular purse brand. Not only at church, but I started to notice these purses everywhere that I went. My RAS was a work spotting purses. Not a very important thing to notice, but this is just another example how your RAS will spring into action for the little things in our life. Just think what we would be able to do if we were to harness this for our goals?



Learning to make use of RAS will help you to go along way to manage your time, accomplish tasks, and make your dreams into goals and in turn into reality.

The easiest way to make your RAS work for you is as simple as writing down a TO DO List. A list to help with daily activities, business plans, but most importantly your goals! The Pen is truly mightier then the sword, at least when it comes to improving ourselves and achieving our goals.



The very simple act of writing down what you want to accomplish will activate your RAS. Then if you make it a habit to take time to reread what you have written this will begin to strength your RAS, which will in turn help you to focus your time and energy on your goal.