Seeing red cars: cultivate your mindset for success

Could cultivating a red car mindset help you in business and career?

What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘opportunity’? It might be a once-in-a-lifetime job offer, the chance to travel somewhere exotic, or an invitation to an event that could change the course of your career.

Now, ask yourself this: How do you think opportunities like these come about? Are they the result of hard work and determination, a little bit of luck, or a mix of both?

A recent trend that’s gone viral on social media posits that the secret to opportunity may simply be being actively on the lookout for it.

Mindset hack

Introducing Red Car Theory, a mindset hack that has little to do with four-wheel drives. The idea was popularised during a podcast called Leaders Talk, which featured self-made millionaire Elena Asher.

During the podcast, Elena asks podcast host Jacob Giron, “Did you see any red cars on your way to work today?”. He responds, “I probably did.” Elena then asks Jacob what he would do if she told him he could earn $50 for every red car he sees.

Jacob says, “I would look for red cars,” to which Elena responds, “Exactly, that’s how luck works.”

The idea is that opportunities – like the red cars in Elena’s example –have always been there. We just have to spot them. It’s the basic concept of seek and you shall find.

So, could cultivating a red car mindset propel your business and/or career?

It would be easy to dismiss Red Car Theory as just another pseudoscientific ‘woo woo’ trend born of the manifestation culture that has grown in popularity over the past couple of years.

Brain work

But psychotherapist and high-performance mindset coach Kathrine McAleese says there’s something to it. “One brilliant function of your brain is to save you energy. Since taking in every stimulus you encounter in a day would leave you too drained to do anything else, your brain has a filtering system,” she explains.

Enter the Reticular Activating System. “The Reticular Activating System (RAS) in your brain stem takes note of what you’re thinking about and what you already believe, and then filters information accordingly,” Kathrine surmises.

“So if you believe that millionaire potential clients are already open to learning from you, your RAS will filter [your reality] so that you notice the millionaires already in your sphere.”

How does reading that make you feel? Kathrine says if you balked at the idea it suggests that you have a limiting belief that will inform your RAS.

“On some level, you don’t believe there are millionaires who’d want to pay a premium to work with you… and so the RAS will filter out or blinker you to seeing those potential clients because your belief says they don’t exist for you,” she explains.

Simply, the RAS is looking for information that fits your script. And if you don’t believe big opportunities can come your way, well, they probably won’t.

Open to opportunity

By now, you might be imagining how you can apply this theory to your business or career. Kathrine says it can be an incredibly powerful tool in your work.

“Using Red Car Theory can help your business/career advancement because what you believe feeds into what you see. More than that, it feeds into what you do. What you do influences your outcomes, and those outcomes can feed your confidence or self-doubt over trying again in the future,” she explains.

Taking action

Julie Begbie, a psychologist and business coach, agrees. She uses the example of networking to illustrate how Red Car Theory can work in a business and career context.

“If you’re aiming to expand your network within a certain industry, by setting this intention and keeping it in mind, you’re more likely to notice and seize networking opportunities, whether it’s an industry meet-up being mentioned in a conversation or spotting an article about an upcoming conference,” she explains.

But there’s a catch. Thinking is just the first step. You also need to take action.

“The red car mindset doesn’t necessarily equip you with the skills or motivation to take the next steps,” Julie points out.

“There’s a gap between awareness and action that needs to be bridged by initiative, resourcefulness, and sometimes, courage,” she notes.

With a red car mindset, it can be easy to overlook all the other critical elements of success, like hard work, strategy, planning, and talent.

Add to that, not all opportunities are worth pursuing, and so, you need to be selective.

In fact, if you’re really good at honing your red car mindset, Julie says you could soon spot opportunities everywhere – which can lead to overwhelm, and analysis paralysis, where you struggle to take decisive action because you’re bogged down by the options.

Red Car Mindset: How To

Still, it’s clear that to move forward we need to be receptive to new opportunities. How can you hone this mindset to take your business or career to the next level? 

Kathrine says one of the most vital ingredients is simply believing the opportunities are there.

“Borrow other people’s experience if you need to,” she says. “Other people’s normal is not your normal. So if you need to borrow reality from people who’re a little further on, to see opportunities then go for it.” 

Kathrine suggests doing some work on your underlying beliefs too. “Get working on your mindset so that it fits the person you want to become and how she behaves.

“What are her values? What are her boundaries? What does she permit/ not have time for? Where’s the gap between that version of you and today?” she asks.

Finally? Julie says setting clear goals is key. “Know what you’re looking for by setting clear, actionable goals. This can help your RAS to filter in opportunities that align with your aims,” she notes.

Opportunities are often the result of hard work, luck, and in many cases, privilege. But no matter where you’re at in life, a red car mindset may make you more receptive to the chances that move you up the ladder. 

“This intriguing psychological occurrence is all about selective attention. It’s a demonstration of how our focus can alter our perception, making us more attuned to certain elements in our environment, whether they’re objects, emotions, or even new opportunities,” says Julie.

If nothing else, that’s a pretty comforting thought. No matter where you’re at in life – or more specifically, in your business or career – it suggests that opportunity is already out there. We just need to open our eyes to it.

 

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