The Spotlight Effect

At the Helm

The Spotlight Effect is a psychological phenomenon where people tend to overestimate how much others are thinking about them.

This phenomena occurs daily all around us. For example, you might spend 30 minutes coming up with an Instagram caption for a post that people will quickly scroll passed and forget about within seconds.

The reality is most people are focused deeply on themselves. At first it might not feel great knowing people aren’t thinking about you as much as you think they are, but once you internalize this, it’s incredibly liberating. You will feel comfortable simply doing what you want when you want knowing that no one really cares that much anyways.

Practical Advice:

Next time you make a mistake or do something that you feel embarrassed about, ask yourself “Would I think this is a big deal if this happened to someone else?” or “Would I ever think about this incident again after 24 hours if it happened to someone else?”