The human brain is a prediction machine.It is continuously taking in your surroundings and analyzing the information it comes across.Whenever you experience something repeatedly—like a nurse seeing the face of a heart attack patient or a military analyst seeing a missile on a radar screen—your brain begins noticing what is important, sorting through the details and highlighting the relevant cues, and cataloging that information for future use.With enough practice, you can pick up on the cues that predict certain outcomes without consciously thinking about it.Automatically, your brain encodes the lessons learned through experience.We can’t always explain what it is we are learning, but learning is happening all the same, and your ability to notice the relevant cues in a given situation is the foundation for every habit you have.We underestimate how much our brains and bodies can do without thinking.You do not tell your hair to grow, your heart to pump, your lungs to breathe, or your stomach to digest.And yet your body handles all this and more on autopilot.We are much more than our conscious selves.
Whenever you experience something repeatedly—like a nurse seeing the face of a heart attack patient or a military analyst seeing a missile on a radar screen—your brain begins noticing what is important, sorting through the details and highlighting the relevant cues, and cataloging that information for future use.
We can’t always explain what it is we are learning, but learning is happening all the same, and your ability to notice the relevant cues in a given situation is the foundation for every habit you have.