The Spotlight Effect
The psychological barrier of the comfort zone.
What’s inside:
🔦 The Spotlight Effect
🩺 Med-Diaries #3
✏️ Insights - This week’s podcasts, movies, books and other cool things
🎨 YouTube: I'm STILL working on the day in my life, it's looking good so far though!
This is a psychological concept that we can all relate to. Having an understanding of it makes it less likely to negatively affect you, so that's the topic this week. I hope this helps you stepping outside of your comfort zone!
🔦The Spotlight Effect
Have you ever done something really embarrassing in public? One moment you're casually walking then your foot hits the curb and you trip yourself up.
In that moment your heart rate rises, your cheeks go red and you suddenly forget how to walk.
It feels like all eyes are on you, as if there's a giant spotlight focusing on you.
Sound familiar? That's the spotlight effect in action.
This is a psychological concept that everyone in the room is watching our every move and it seems to start when we do something embarrassing in a public space.
The truth is that it's all in your head.
You are at the centre of your own universe. Your brain is filled with YOUR thoughts, it controls YOUR actions and processes YOUR emotions. YOU are focused on YOU far more than anyone else is. In other words, no one actually cares whether you tripped over or whatever you did, they're far too concerned with their own lives to be worried about you.
Sure people might notice whatever you did, but within seconds their minds are occupied with the things going on in their own lives.
Nobody Is Watching You
I wanted to share that with you today because far too often I see people refraining from stepping outside of their comfort zones out of fear of being judged.
I'm prone to this too, but lately I've come to the realisation that no one really cares about what I'm doing. The same goes for you, so just do the thing, don't let the spotlight effect stop you.
I've been vlogging in public with my camera on it's tripod and doing photoshoots (I'm practicing photography) in public spaces...where everyone can see.
In the beginning I felt the spotlight effect.
I saw heads turning as they walked past and felt judged, but then I saw another person with a camera on a tripod, doing the same thing.
I turned my head to look at him, but I was just curious and interested.
That's when it hit me.
When people turn their heads to look at me for a second, they're probably just interested in what I'm doing and before you know it, their minds have moved on. Just like mine did with that person.
I imagine other people's thoughts go something like, What's that guy doing? Oh he's taking pictures of himself. Cool. Man I'm hungry I need to get some food.... and back to their trivial thoughts.
You’ll worry less about what people think about you when you realize how seldom they do.
- David Foster Wallace
🩺 Med-Diaries #3
Date of entry: 28/03/21
Hey guys 👋🏽
Lectures are over!! 🎉 It's so nice to have more free time in the day, although the work has not stopped.
This week we started the Student Selected Component (SSC) which is a group project on a topic of your choice - I chose The Placebo Effect💊 (I'll be blogging about this soon). It is SO interesting and it's really fun getting creative and making a poster - it feels like I'm back in school 😆
I'm trying to keep up with revision (Anki of course) so I'm ahead when it comes to exam season (5 weeks till my first exam). This is the first exam season IN MY LIFE that I have actually prepared for well in advance and it's really paid off. I can quite easily get through a days work in 2-3 hours leaving plenty of time for other things like walks, football, cooking etc.
This week I've found myself a bit lost at times without the big workload I'm used to, the end of lectures in med school feels like stepping off a high speed train and walking. The teaching weeks are so fast paced and full on then boom. You're off for 6 weeks until the exam and all of a sudden everything feels slow? I'm not complaining. I think the challenge now is mustering the willpower to keep the revision consistent for another 5 weeks which will be interesting when the weather starts to get warmer. I'm easily distracted by the sun.
In other news, I'm alive and well, just vibing. I made a few new friends this week so that was nice and football training started so I've got a nice outlet to decompress 😌⚽.
Until next week, stay healthy! 😄
✏️Insights of the Week
🎙️Podcast: The Huberman Lab Podcast
Links: YouTube, Website, Spotify
This is so good I linked it twice. I honestly had a few meals this week while listening to this and it is VERY RARE that I do that with podcasts. I've not just listened but I've also been implementing some of the science from this podcast about changing your circadian rhythm and they're proving to be effective. I'm sleeping better, waking up earlier and I feel healthier overall. Seriously recommend if you're a health-science nerd like me!
📽️ Netflix: The Office (Series)
Links: Netflix
I've been binging this over the last few weeks and it's so entertaining. Each episode is 20 minutes long so it's just the right length for a short break while you eat, cook or relax. The level of acting is actually insanely good from Steve Carell! I'm probably late to the party with this one but honestly what a show 😂
📚 Reading & Accountability
I've been slacking with reading lately, so I decided to post on my Instagram story that I will be reading daily for the next few weeks and I've been using that as my accountability. If you tell yourself that you'll do something, you might not get it done. But if you tell the world you will do something, then your integrity is on the line. It sort of makes you more likely to do that thing and so far (Day #3) it's been working! Ps. Follow me there, I'm more active these days 😜