NOTICING - The Human Superpower

Hi there and a very warm welcome to Season 6 Episode 25 of People Soup, it's Ross McIntosh here.

 This week., it's another cup-a-soup. A short episode from me. I'm going to explore the human superpower of noticing. I'll talk about what we might be missing out on when we're stuck inside our own heads, and share an exercise that you might like to try, which, with practice, is designed to enhance our skill of noticing.

 Here's a question. How much of our waking hours do we spend on autopilot? I've asked this hundreds of times to groups of adults in the workplace, and people will typically come in with a high number, sometimes as high as 90%.

The actual figure from a study by some psychologists at Harvard was 46.9%. That means we can be mind wandering for almost half the day, perhaps not noticing what's going on around us. Now, this research also noticed that the wandering mind isn't always the happiest of minds.

For those of you who are new to People Soup - welcome - it's great to have you here - I aim to provide you with ingredients for a better work life from behavioural science and beyond. For those of you who are regular P Soupers - thanks for tuning in - we love it that you're part of our community.

There is a transcript for each episode. There is a caveat - this transcript is largely generated by Artificial Intelligence, I have corrected many errors but I won't have captured them all! You can also find the shownotes by clicking on notes then keep scrolling for all the useful links.

My open course "Your Blueprint for Well-Being, Action & Resilience."

Please note - the planned course for June 2025 has been postponed - more news soon.

It's bringing ACT in the workplace to the public through the training I developed with Dr Paul Flaxman. I've delivered it to thousands of adults in the workplace with exceptional feedback. It's for people who are interested in navigating their working live more effectively. It will folks consider what really matters and what might be getting in the way of them being the person they'd really like to be. If you're a P-Souper or have trained with me in the past, please think about passing on this opportunity to a friend, colleague or family member. The maximum size of the cohort is 12 people - first come, first served. All the details are via this link.

• Harvard Article - the wandering mind is not a happy mind

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