Why Do I Keep Doing This?

How Awareness Triggers the Path to Automation

Have you ever noticed that once you start paying attention to something, you suddenly see it everywhere?

You hear about a specific car model, and then every other car on the road is that exact one. Or someone mentions an app like TextExpander, and then within days you see it mentioned in YouTube comments, Twitter threads, and blog posts.

That’s not coincidence — it’s called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also known as frequency illusion. Once your brain becomes aware of a pattern, it starts spotting it all around you.

📚 What is the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon?
The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also called frequency illusion, is a cognitive bias where something you recently learned or noticed suddenly seems to appear everywhere.

The name "Baader–Meinhof phenomenon" was coined in 1994 by Terry Mullen in a letter to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The letter describes how, after mentioning the name of the German militant group Baader–Meinhof once, he kept noticing it.

Psychologists explain this effect as a mix of two processes:

Selective attention, where your brain starts filtering in anything related to what you’re thinking about

Confirmation bias, where your brain reinforces what it expects to see

This doesn’t mean the thing is actually happening more often — it just means your brain is finally tuned into it.

And here's the thing: that same effect can be the spark that leads you to automation.

🧠 Awareness is the First Automation Tool

If I can get you to start thinking — even once — “Why do I keep doing this task over and over?” or “Why doesn’t this process work better?” … then something shifts.

Even if that question pops up subconsciously, it plants a seed. Your brain starts tuning in. And just like that car you can’t unsee, you’ll start noticing every inefficient click, copy-paste, and window switch in your day.

“Why do I keep rewriting the same email?”
“Why do I always have to search for this file?”
“Why does it take five steps just to do this one thing?”

🔁 Repetition = Opportunity

We all have workflows we’ve built without realizing it. But the moment you become conscious of your habits — especially the ones that annoy you — you open the door to change.

And that’s where automation thrives.

• Noticing friction is the first step.

• Curiosity follows.

• Solutions start to surface.

This is why I believe that automation doesn’t start with a tool. It starts with a question.

🛠️ How to Trigger This Awareness

Try this: for the next 48 hours, don’t change anything. Just notice.

• What do you do multiple times a day?

• What feels like a small annoyance but happens often?

• What task do you always think “ugh” before starting?

Jot those things down — even if they seem too small to matter. They aren’t. They’re signals.

And once you notice them, you won’t be able to stop. That’s the Baader-Meinhof effect working in your favor. Your brain is doing the heavy lifting — all you have to do is follow its lead.

💡 Final Thought

The journey from overwhelmed to optimized doesn’t start with fancy apps or complex scripts. It starts with noticing. Because once you see the pattern, you can change it. And once you change it, you get your time back.