The Spotlight Effect
December 29th, 2023 (10 months ago) • 2 minutes
Photo by Paul Green on Unsplash
The Spotlight Effect is a common psychological phenomenon that causes people to overestimate the extent to which their actions and appearance are noticed by others. It is the feeling that everyone is looking at you, judging you, and noticing your every movement.
When I talk to my friend and tell them about what someone else advised me, he would often rebut and say 'Why do you care so much about what others think of you?'. This is one of the things I took away this year where I often do things to please others because I don't want to look bad.
Sahil Bloom talked about the 2 of the biggest mistake in life which are:
- Worrying about what others think about you; and
- Believing that other people think about you in the first place
In reality, people are too busy thinking about themselves to think about you.
Now I always ask myself 'So What? What's the worst that could happen?' Usually the answer is not that bad as we think it is and this helps me to be more confident in my actions.