Scientist Ray Kurzweil is planning on living forever. In his book : "Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever”, he urges us all to do the same so that we can be around to take advantage of the coming explosion in technology that he claims will make it possible to extend our life span indefinitely.

He writes of tiny robots the size of blood cells that will patrol your body repairing bones, arteries and brain cells and Internet downloads to upgrade your DNA. The idea is as far fetched as his desired life span.

In an experiment conducted at New York University researchers asked volunteers to perform a task which involved words usually related to old age. Such as ”grey”, “wrinkled”, and “bingo”.

Another group were shown different words,  not related to old age. The researchers then told the two groups that the experiment was over, but in reality, it had just begun. As the two groups left the room, the researchers secretly timed their progress down the long corridor to exit the building.  And lo and behold - those who had cast their minds eye over the words associated with old age took noticeably longer to leave the building.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could conjure up motivation, enthusiasm or confidence at the drop of a hat?

Thanks to a useful little technique called anchoring, we can collect good past experiences and set them off to invoke a useful state in times of need.