If the eye is the lamp of the body, it can light the way to all manner of success. But, as a new book by social psychologist Emily Balcetis explains, you may need to change what you’re seeing.
In the library of handy phrases, the eye is a dictionary of its own. “Here’s how I see it,” we casually announce. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” “Seeing is believing.” Often as not, however, we are saying far more than we think. For it turns out that perception — literal visual perception — plays a massive part in sharpening the iron of success.
Or so says Emily Balcetis, a much-lauded social psychologist whose recent book, Clearer, Closer, Better, is a playful exploration of the links between vision and victory. Successful people, she says, literally see things differently. By harnessing the power of perceptual illusion, they give themselves a critical edge. From winning gold to shedding the pounds, from clearing debt to clinching a deal, what you see hugely influences what you get.
Consider, for instance, the loneliness of the long-distance runner. How might she employ the optic arts to propel herself to the front of the jostling pack? Answer: by narrowing her focus. Among the author’s many witnesses is Joan Benoit Samuelson, who in 1984 became the first women’s marathon champion at the Olympic Games. Her secret was to focus not on the finish — a faraway line of which she knew nothing — but on particular runners ahead of her. Target them, focus on them, pass them. Then repeat the process until every rival is slain. By consistently fooling the eye — and thus the brain — into seeing the goal as attainable and near, we motivate ourselves more effectively than by scanning a far horizon littered with towering peaks.
The thesis is not entirely unambiguous. While most reviewers raved about Clearer, Closer, Better, a couple flagged up some apparent incoherence: not all of the author’s immensely engaging anecdotes, they implied, were tethered convincingly to her central idea. Yet the explanation for this may lie in the scope of her ambition. By mixing vision science with motivational psychology and cognitive research, Balcetis has served up a mental minestrone in which the literal and metaphorical ingredients swim together in her beguiling broth.
Understandably so. For the line between the mental and the physical, between seeing with the eyes and visualising in the mind, has long been contested. While philosophers such as Locke and Descartes advanced the representational view of knowledge — the only thing of which we are aware is our ideas of the external world — "realists" countered that we possess direct awareness of the world itself. While some claimed that objects have only primary (eg spatial) qualities — secondary qualities such as colour existing purely in the mind — others thought that all of an object’s qualities inhered within the actual thing.
As neuroscience gradually emerged from the mists of primitive research, the picture became more nuanced still. Balcetis recounts a recent experiment in which volunteers were blindfolded for five days and taught to read braille, which works by touch. Initially, most activity took place in the somatosensory cortex of the subjects — the region of the brain which registers what we touch and feel. Gradually, however, the visual cortex — the part that makes sense of images received through physical sight – began to take on the workload, even though the subjects were still seeing nothing with their eyes. Through the miracle of neuroplasticity, the subjects’ visual cortices had refitted themselves for purpose: in a quite remarkable way, the sightless volunteers were seeing.
And it’s in the midst of this wondrous complexity of perceiving and imagining, material and immaterial, literal and metaphorical, that Clearer, Closer, Better appears. Thus its multi-levelled appeal: an arresting peep behind the curtain of visual perception, yet also a practical book of breezy motivational wisdom. Pun fully intended, each reader will see something different.
Four ways to see things as successful people do
The actionable takeaways? Well, in essence, they boil down to four:
1. Narrow your focusThis is the point made earlier about concentrating hard on the next specific goal. It’s what Joan Benoit Samuelson did. It’s the avowed technique of every footballer who ever claimed to be "taking each game as it comes". And if things go truly wild, it will even serve you well in prison. The infamous Jeremy Bamber, jailed for life in 1986 for the murder of his family, was once asked during interview how one faces up to decades behind bars. You don’t, was his reply — you just face the next day. Or hour.
2. Materialise your goals and track progress towards them
It’s great to have an ultimate destination, but you need to focus on how you are going to get there. To will an end is to will the means. If you’re trying to clear your credit card bill, analyse where the money is all going and how exactly you plan to cut back. If you’re entered for the Olympics, determine the times you need to achieve at each stage of your training. If, like the young Boris Johnson, you have set your heart on becoming “World King”, work out how to be President of the Oxford Union first.
3. Control your frame of reference
A classic example of how the literal and metaphorical work together. Physically, surround yourself with visual imagery that will inspire you towards your goal. Choose a scenic route for your morning run; make charts of your progress; put up pictures of the Olympic Stadium, the House of Commons or the Royal Albert Hall. But control your relationships too. Don’t surround yourself with vacuous cheerleaders who will tell you how great you are merely to get you off their back. Instead, seek out honest and constructive feedback that will promote improvement and growth. Use your eyes to study facial expression and learn to read what others really think.
4. Widen the lens
If you’ve reached the age of five, you’ve probably discovered by now that things don’t always go to plan. But don’t despair! By opening your eyes to a wider range of possibilities, you can turn those unsolicited detours and dead ends into Route 66, adjusting the particulars of your dream while remaining true to its essence. The author references Vera Wang, the legendary fashion designer who began life as an aspiring figure skater. Unfortunately she didn’t quite make the grade and retired in 1968 after failing to qualify for the Olympics. Then came her epiphany. Since graceful, elegant lines formed her underlying passion, why not move her enthusiasm to the world of fashion? Logic and necessity demanded it. The rink’s loss was the catwalk’s gain.
So there it is: seeing is achieving. Or, as the Speaker of the House might say, the eyes have it.
Clearer, Closer, Better: How Successful People See the World by Emily Balcetis is published by Ballantine
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