#144 overwrite

I walked into my grocery store and my brain instantly knew that it was remodeled.  It was much more open through the front areas so I tried to picture how it had previously looked.  I couldn't do it.  In an instant, my brain had overwritten what it was like "before".

I think it works this way with most people and remodels -- the new lighting at work that was so startling on the first day is now a non-factor.  The new paint at home that made the room look so different is now just part of the background.  And the same is true with civil engineering -- one of the reasons I am so fascinated with it -- that road or bridge seems like the most natural thing to be there.  Even if we witness the construction process, after the first few days we don't even pay attention to how different the new traffic pattern is.

It takes less time than you think for the new to become old; for things to stop being noticed and to become part of the routine.  Two sides to this coin:

> You can take advantage of the brain's capacity to overwrite things.  Think about what you want to rewrite in your life -- a habit?  a brand element?  the way your office looks?  It doesn't take long to replace a concept in your head.
> But because the brain has great capacity to overwrite things, you need to continually keep feeding in the messages that you want to stick or it will be replaced with something else new.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
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