Hi friends! This week’s #WednesdayWisdom comes from the Daily Coach Blog and has to do with something called The Spotlight Effect. The website link below provides as LOT of details…I’ll summarize it here:
The Spotlight Effect refers to the notion that we frequently overestimate the number of people paying attention to us at any given moment.
In the first experiment, a student was wearing a Barry Manilow T-shirt. And as he stepped foot inside the classroom that day, he was certain he was going to get mocked by at least half of his peers.
In reality, only 25 percent even noticed.
The next time, a group of students chose shirts with pictures of either Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jerry Seinfeld or Bob Marley on them. They again guessed that 50 percent of their classmates would remember whose image they had plastered across their chests.
Only 10 percent remembered.
At times, we may misspeak, misstep or do something else that we perceive as embarrassing. When this happens, keep The Spotlight Effect in mind.
It’s easy to convince ourselves that everyone is laser-focused on our every move and that we should be more prudent or avoid potentially risky scenarios altogether.
We often agonize over completely trivial mistakes that few people, if any, even caught. Even if they did catch it, they’re very unlikely to remember five minutes from now.
In short, don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s pretty unlikely we’re the talk of the town, the butt of the joke, the laughingstock of the bright event.
There’s a good chance, in fact, that the lights weren’t even on.
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