The Reality Distortion Field: Why Being Delusional Often Pays Off

What is a reality distortion field, and how can you harness its power in your life to create remarkable results? Let's discuss it...

How to Harness The Power of a Reality Distortion Field

Anything noteworthy that has ever been created in this world has emerged from a reality distortion field.

What is a reality distortion field and how exactly does it work? Let's explore the concept and its applications for anyone who is working towards a seemingly impossible goal.

What is a Reality Distortion Field?

A reality distortion field is a powerful, internal driving force that allows an individual to bend reality to conform with their goals and desires.

Put simply, it refers to the way people often get rewarded for being a little delusional.

Interesting concept isn't it?

Many people consider reality as being fixed, when really it is something that is quite malleable.

When you have a strong reality distortion field, you are able to change your external reality by changing your internal reality.

Why?

Because all behaviour is belief-driven.

Your Thoughts Create Your Reality

Right now, in the moment that you are reading this article, my reality is different to yours.

But guess what? Even if you suddenly found yourself in the exact same situation as me, your reality would still be different to mine.

Why?

Because you are a unique person, with unique thoughts, perspectives, and experiences.

In this way, reality is quite subjective.

As a result, you could even go so far as to say that reality is an illusion we create ourselves.

It is because of this fact - the individuality of our human experience - that the reality distortion field exists.

How Does a Reality Distortion Field Work?

Yes, you can't just go outside, click your fingers and turn the sky green.

That's not the type of reality distortion we're talking about here.

The formation of a reality distortion field is a slow, gradual process that begins with your thoughts.

An idea is like a seed. Everything starts with an idea.

Many times our ideas die when they get suffocated by the weeds of self-doubt.

But everything changes when you start to develop a reality distortion field.

A key step to creating a reality distortion field is deciding to see things differently.

Remember the powerful quote by Henry Ford:

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right."

When you deliberately start to think you can, your reality distortion field grows, and your thoughts become manifest in physical reality.

Your reality distortion field becomes a powerful force that protects your ideas until they come into fruition.

A reality distortion field works on the premise that while you can't explicitly change reality, you can always choose yours.

While everyone else allows unexpected circumstances to lower their morale and deter them from their goals, you can take a different path.

You can decide that you will succeed against all odds.

You can decide that you may not initially know how to deal with every problem you encounter, but you will figure it out.

You can decide that nothing is impossible with enough time, effort and perseverance.

And you will be right.

Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field

source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/acaben/541326656/

The term "reality distortion field" was first used in the 1980s to describe Apple cofounder Steve Job's relentless determination, which made him notoriously dismissive of phrases such as "It can't be done", or "We need more time".

Steve Job's reality distortion field is perfectly described by Ryan Holiday in the book The Obstacle is the Way:

"Having learned early in life that reality was falsely hemmed in by rules and compromises that people had been taught as children, Jobs had a much more aggressive idea of what was or wasn't possible. To him, when you factored in vision and work ethic, much of life was malleable."

For example, when in the process of designing a new mouse for an early Apple product, Jobs had high expectations.

He wanted it to move fluidly in any direction - a new development for any mouse at that time - but a lead engineer was told by one of his designers that this would be commercially impossible.

The next day, the lead engineer arrived at work to find that Jobs had fired the designer who'd said that. Soon after, Jobs found a replacement designer who was willing and able to build the mouse.

Another example:

Right before the first Macintosh computer was supposed to ship, the engineers told Jobs they couldn't make the deadline, and that they needed two additional weeks' work before it was ready.

Jobs responded calmly, explaining to the engineers that if they could make it in two weeks, they could surely make it one - there was no real difference in such a short period of time.

And more importantly, since they'd come this far and done so much good work, there was no way they would not ship on January 16, the original ship date.

Steve Job's insistence pushed them, and the engineers rallied and made their deadline.

That's the power of a reality distortion field.

Job's acknowledgement of his reality distortion field is expressed in this famous quote:

"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

Reality Distortion Fields Are Everywhere

Although the term was first associated with Steve Jobs, he is not the only person to leverage a reality distortion field.

Reality distortion fields are everywhere.

In business, in science, in politics, the arts...

Anyone who has ever attempted to achieve something seemingly impossible - and succeeded - has developed a strong reality distortion field.

This is especially true for entrepreneurs, who take risks and go after their vision, even if it seems crazy to everyone else at the time.

Another iconic innovator with a reality distortion field that readily comes to mind is Walt Disney, who said: "It's kind of fun to do the impossible."

Let's now consider ways we can all develop or strengthen our reality distortion fields, so we can go out and get what we want in life.

How to Develop a Reality Distortion Field

1. Understand the power of your thoughts

In order to leverage a reality distortion field, you need to understand the power of your thoughts and your subconscious mind.

Your thoughts radiate energy, and they can either move you towards a desirable or undesirable life path.

You need to really grasp the concept that if you believe you can achieve something you will, and if you don't - you won't.

Once you understand this, you will be very conscious of what you feed your mind, and you will make a special effort to ensure that your thoughts and self-beliefs are in alignment with where you want to go.

2. Flip the script

Next you need to come up with a list of reasons why you can be successful.

Most of us spend too much time thinking about why things won't go our way, instead of why they will!

One of my favourite quotes of all time is by Steve Case, cofounder of AOL:

"You shouldn't focus on why you can't do something, which is what most people do. You should focus on why perhaps you can, and be one of the exceptions."

You need to learn to channel your energy away from worry and self-doubt and into building up a strong argument for why things will work out in your favour.

By doing this, you will be strengthening the force of your reality distortion field.

3. Stack the odds in your favour

Now you have to back up your beliefs by action.

You believe you will succeed, but what are you actually doing to guarantee it?

You need to ask yourself: what are all the activities I can do right now, that if I were to complete them, it would be basically impossible for me to fail?

In other words, you need to conduct an honest self-appraisal and make sure that you're truly doing all the things you need to be doing in order to reach your goal.

If you're struggling with execution and you need some help, you can check out my 21-Day Goal Execution Challenger here.

4. Feed your mind with success stories

Last but not least, you need to surround yourself with success.

You can do this by reading books written by successful people, and closely following reliable mentors and teachers, both in real life and on the internet.

This is important, because if you surround yourself with people who are able to do the seemingly impossible, you will start to believe that you can too.

You want to train your brain to think that it's normal to achieve success, not something unusual.

You need to believe that success is within your reach, and seeing examples of people who have already achieved the goals that you want to reach will help you truly internalize this.

This is where reality really becomes distorted, because your version of reality will differ from that of the general population, who believe that success is difficult or rare.

That's not true, because in your intimate world made up of the people you spend the most time with everyday (even if it's just reading or watching their content) - everyone is successful!

Final Thoughts

Perception is Reality - Reality Distortion Field

I hope this post has helped deepen your understanding of how a reality distortion field works, and how you can create one in your life.

At the end of the day, your inner reality determines your outer reality, so you want to make sure that they are in total alignment.

Always remember that even though our doubts and self-doubts often feel real, they have very little bearing on what is and isn't possible.

If you are able to create a powerful distortion field, you will be able to block out both external negative influences and any destructive inner tendencies.

You just need to decide that you will not let other people and poor excuses determine your reality. Life is far too beautiful and full of exciting possibilities to be tied down by false limitations.

May the force be with you!