What happens when we take the lessons learned by the most shocking and unbelievable experiment ever done and apply them to our journey of self mastery and self improvement?

The experiment I am referring to here is the double slit experiment. Originally done in 1801 and repeated several times over producing the same results. With a beam of light particles, scientists shined it at a barrier with two slits or cuts in the middle of it. The first time, the light particles didn't take any shape or form, they just scattered all over the wall after passing through the barrier (see image 1 below). They said, “huh, that's interesting.. I wonder what slit they went through to make them do that. Let's check it out, let's put a  detector on the wall here and let’s have it beep every time the particles go into the first slit” (see image 2 below).

Image 1: Scattering of particles when unobserved. Image 2: Particles line up in an orderly fashion when being observed by a detector. (Source: "Double Slit Experiment Explained" by Jim Al-Khalili)

“What's going on?!" the scientist exclaims, "what just happened!? Did we change anything? NO! How come they’re acting differently now?!”. As you can see, particles were not scattering anymore. They were showing up like two nicely organized lines on the back of the wall. So, he goes “wait wait wait, turn off the detector…ha! They’re all scattering again! What does this mean?”.

Unbelievable, right? This phenomenon is called the Observer Effect. Let’s say our boss decided to watch us at work one day, we'd probably perform better, right? We'd sit up straighter, pay more attention, be nicer. If our significant other was in the kitchen watching us clean, we'd probably perform better too, right? We’d wipe down every nook and cranny just so they know how it's done, right! 

Now what if we took the same principle and applied it to us, what if we watched ourselves?! For example, what if instead of spending our money aimlessly…we monitored it, we used a budget, would we become richer? If we were trying to gain weight or lose weight, what if we weighed ourselves everyday and kept track of our weights? Would we be more successful?

The answer is yes. By just monitoring something, the likelihood of it improving significantly increases. And let's go above and beyond that, why not monitor the most important thing that shapes our reality? We are what we think, right? Why not monitor our thoughts. So what if we kept a daily journal? Just by journaling as our future selves, we’re 90% more likely to take the steps towards the life that we want.  What if we meditated and monitored our thoughts? If we just did visualization meditation, the science says we are 75% more likely to achieve our goals. So why not? Especially when of this is free?

Everything you want - success, love, peace- starts from within, master yourself and master your life.