Whatever You Do, Just Dont Screw It Up

The sky is clear and the stars radiant. You glance over and catch her eye as shes looking
back at you. She smiles, you look away, suddenly you feel vulnerable and all too giddy. You
know where this is going and your heart rate begins to quicken. You bite your lip, knowing that
you are somehow going to screw this up. The view, the lights, the moment, theyre all too perfect. You look again, shes still looking at you! The time is right; you lean in. Dont smile. Dont
smile you tell yourself. Your lips brush hers, the excitement flairs! The corners of your mouth
widen, and then it happens. Your teeth bump hers. A rush of blood to the cheeks and a glance at
the ground leaves you with one word Why?
Why do things like this happen? Why do we mess up when it matters most? This blunder,
so to speak, is known as the counterintentional error. It is an error that we try to prevent, but in
accordance with Murphys Law, inevitably everything goes wrong, and that cat finds its way
out of said bag. So what happened? Did we not tie the bag well enough? Are we not as adept at
controlling our thoughts and actions as we think we are? Fortunately most of the time, the answer is no, but studies have shown that the mind, when placed under significant stress or great
mental load, produces ironic errors when trying to exert mental control such as thought suppression. We are always going to make small errors from time to time, but more often than not we
control our minds just fine.
The review of How to Think, Say, or Do Precisely the Worst Thing for Any Occasion by
Daniel M. Wegner explains that when you tell an individual not to think about a white bear,
two mental processes work together to help them achieve the task. The first is a conscious effort

which actively tries to distract or refocus the mind with other topics. At the same time, an unconscious process remains fixed on the exact idea that the conscious is working to forget. The unconscious process cross references each thought from the conscious process, continuing to filter
as needed. However, placing mental load on the conscious mind, by either inducing stress or giving it another task to focus on, prevents it from accomplishing its first task. When this happens,
the unconscious mind does not follow suit and is left unhindered. It continues to focus on the undesirable and primes the mind. Biding its time until it once again comes forth.
Mental load doesnt have to come in the form of tasks or distractions. Social pressures are
well qualified for the task of placing enough stress on the mind to cause it to error. Wegner described an experiment in which British participants were asked to suppress their stereotypes and
prejudices towards skinheads. The participants, though trying to suppress their social prejudice,
found themselves sitting as far away from the skinheads as possible in a waiting room. The same
can be said for every boy who has ever tried to impress a girl, or any individual who desires to
look good in front of a group of would-be friends. Minutes and even hours can be spent trying to
make sure that they look smooth or cool, but we all cause embarrassment to ourselves at
sometime or another.
Our emotions, such as fear or worry also play critical roles in our mental processes and
affect our behavior. From the review, Rick Ankiel, a major league baseball player, was famed for
his wild pitches. Rick, who was very much worried about throwing wild pitches, continued to
throw a great amount, even calling this chronic error of his the Creature. Another example that
the review gave was regarding soccers players who usually end up looking at and kicking the
ball to that one particular spot within the goal that they were trying to avoid. Imagine making it

to the final game of the World Cup. Everything you and your fellow country men have dreamed
about since you kicked a ball around as kids. The first ninety minutes and subsequent thirty end
in a tied score, leaving the deciding factor up to penalty kicks. World Cup titles have eluded you
for your entire career and as the fifth shooter in the line up, it all comes to you taking a kick that
youve probably done a thousand times. The entire world is watching, your country in utmost
anticipation. This is everything. Dont kick to the keeper.
It makes you wonder if religious leaders or devout followers of a religion ever mess up.
Do the pressures of trying to be good and doing everything right, ever cause one to slip up? In
the Book of Mormon, Alma teaches that living the commandments is easy. It is when we are not
doing as we should, that living the Gospel becomes hard. Therefore, if we are faithful and obedient, we will not be stressed. For those who do struggle and who will have stress placed upon
them, they will probably mess up and commit a counterintentional error. Old habits, addictions,
or unsavory thoughts which lead to an undesired action may resurface. These instances may
cause grief and pain, but fortunately for all of us Matthew chapter 11, Jesus teaches For my
yoke is easy, and my burden is light. He catches us when we fall and helps to remove the burden.
Whether from a religious or secular perspective, errors do happen. Under stressful or taxing situations such as completing a difficult task, or exerting ourselves to act in a certain way, our
minds tend to flip the script and surprise us. Maybe its natures funny way of keeping us in
check.