19/12/2025
I want to tell you about an experiment I have been running recently - one that has quietly shifted the way I see the world.
You may already have seen parts of it on social media. If not, you will soon understand why it matters so deeply, not just for personal development, but for how we grow businesses, lead others, and show up as coaches within a coaching franchise.
Why Attention Is the Most Underrated Performance Tool
Every six months or so, I tend to have a project that occupies my attention and development. I have never fully planned this, but looking back, the pattern is obvious.
Earlier this year, my focus was YouTube - developing skills, confidence, and consistency in that space. Before that, it was automations - streamlining systems to speed up workflows across the business. Each phase sharpened something different.
Two weeks ago, my focus shifted again.
This time, it is about attention.
I already had a foundation here. I have a formal diploma in neuropsychology, and the concept of the reticular activating system - the RAS - has always been part of my work. I have spoken to clients about paying attention to what they want, rather than what they fear.
But if I am honest, I had been glossing over just how powerful and life-changing this system really is.
So I decided to stop treating it like a concept and start treating it like a muscle. Just as someone might commit to structured marathon training, I committed to structured, focused training of my reticular activating system.
Why?
Because I want to start seeing the world differently.
When Life Experience Files Down Optimism
Building businesses has never been easy for me. I have always started with nothing. No finance. No capital. No marketing background. Just a scrappy attitude and a lot of NLP-fuelled drive.
That kind of motivation works - until it doesn’t.
For the last eleven years, I have also been a carer. Supporting people through deeply distressing circumstances. A father dying from alcoholism. A mother with FTD. A sister with epilepsy and cerebral palsy. An uncle with alcoholism. The list is long.
I do not believe this made me negative.
But I do believe it left a residue.
A kind of emotional hangover where some of the natural optimism I arrived in the world with had been quietly worn down. Not by events themselves, but by how my attention had been trained to scan for threat, loss, and responsibility.
So my mission became clear - clean up my RAS. Take conscious control of what I tune into. Not through forced positivity, but through deliberate attention training.
This matters deeply for anyone building a coaching franchise. Because the way you perceive opportunity, challenge, and possibility shapes how you lead, sell, and serve.
You cannot build something expansive with an attention system trained on survival.
The Experiment That Changed Everything
The first experiment came from a book called E Squared. The instruction was simple - look out for an unusual coloured car. I had someone else choose the colour.
Almost immediately, I started seeing them everywhere.
Someone on my team pointed out that yellow cars are easy to spot, so the experiment evolved. The next task was to find a yellow car with bees printed on it. This mattered because I am a beekeeper.
That same day, I was also asked to look for pink balloons and purple feathers. The following day, cupcakes and confetti.
It worked. Repeatedly.
So I escalated.
I bought a lottery ticket - not with the intention of “winning”, but with the intention of receiving a gift. I did not know what the gift would be or who it would come from. It had to arrive within 48 hours. It had to be unexpected. And it had to be significant enough that I could not dismiss it.
Within 48 hours, I won £30 on the lottery.
That was the gift.
Not because of the money, but because of what it demonstrated. Attention directs experience.
For anyone operating within a coaching franchise, this is not fluff. This is applied neuropsychology. What you train yourself to notice expands. What you repeatedly attend to becomes your reality.
Opportunity does not appear more often - you simply start seeing it.
Why This Matters for Franchise Owners
As I continue this process, I will report back on how life changes when attention is trained deliberately rather than reactively.
This is the work we do at People Building. And it is why our coaching franchise is built the way it is - grounded in neuroscience, lived experience, and practical application.
A coaching franchise does not thrive on hype or hustle alone. It thrives when its leaders are emotionally regulated, perceptually flexible, and capable of seeing possibility where others see limitation.
That begins with attention.
If you want different outcomes - in business, income, or impact - you must start by tuning your reticular activating system differently. Because the world you experience is largely the one you are trained to notice.
And that is a skill you can learn.
by Gemma Bailey (with the help of Ai)
https://www.peoplebuilding.co.uk/franchise
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