☃️Unlocking the Snowball Effect: Self-Change and Success on Steroids. Let's get the ball rolling!

TUNE IN TO LEARN: 
Ever wondered how tiny actions can spiral into significant transformations in your life? Or falling off the "good eating" wagon for days, weeks, months and ... years? 
 
Let’s unlock the secret of the snowball effect together! 
 
In this episode, we'll dive into the fascinating science of System Thinking! The secret to easier and faster success in health, life and business. 
 
I share personal stories that illustrate how seemingly small decisions can accumulate into powerful, exponential changes. By adopting systems thinking, we'll explore the intricate web of interconnected factors that shape our world and how we can harness these insights to drive positive outcomes in our personal and professional lives. 
 
I also introduce a behavior awareness worksheet designed to help you identify the root causes of your actions and timing for better results. This tool is a game-changer for creating positive feedback loops and optimizing your habits. 
 
Tune in for this practical guide to recognizing and leveraging the snowball effect to craft a life you love! 
 
Behavior Awareness Worksheet from PN  
 

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

Hey guys, and welcome back to another episode of your Brain's Coach podcast. My name is Angela Shurina, I'm your host, I'm your Brain's Coach, and it is my job and absolute joy and pleasure to bring to you all the best, cutting-edge, most important, useful, incredibly effective brain-body tools so you can take better control of your emotions, of your thoughts and, most importantly, of your actions to shape the life experience that you absolutely love living Folks. Today, I'm so inspired to chat with you about this tool, this concept that I've been using for quite a while in my own life, very, very successfully to create fast change, or sometimes I say change on steroids exponential change that just keeps on building on itself. So I've been using it in my life for different transformations of my lifestyle, of my business, of my work, of my relationships, and I also teach it to clients in all different shapes and forms because it works so well. And today I feel like I've reinvented a wheel. I'm like, oh, I didn't know this concept was actually so widely used in system thinking, or thinking in systems, applied to business, applied to preventing or diagnosing, creating better tools for managing natural disasters, in coaching, in so many things. You know, system thinking, thinking in systems it's quite an old theory and field of science and field of research and again, it's applicable in so many areas of life and science and business and health and relationships. And I didn't know it was there and I've been using it for quite some time and I wish I knew it sooner. Or maybe it's the right time. So what am I talking about here? I'm talking about the snowball effect. I even gave it the same name before reading about that. So, snowball effect, let's read some definitions. Well, let's actually first talk about thinking in systems, or systems thinking. What is it anyway? So, definition from a dictionary Systems thinking, it's a way of understanding the complexity of the world by seeing it as a whole, focusing on relationships and patterns, rather than breaking it down into isolated parts.

Speaker 1 2:51

And you see folks in life versus, you know what our brain often tricks us into thinking. In life, most of the things have non-linear relationships, with many, many players involved, shaping, creating the ultimate outcome. So it's never just one thing. Speaking plainly and clearly, it's always like the results that we get in most things in life are a result of interaction, interplay, of many different factors in our environment, which is outside environment, inside environment, relationships, moods, weather. It's all connected. Since I was a kid, I actually was really fascinated by the sum of fact and the results that we get. I always felt like a human being and just what field theory says, or specifically, human behavior, is the result of a human in the environment, and both are constantly changing in the environment and both are constantly changing.

Speaker 1 4:09

No-transcript my willpower or thinking or decision-making. It's actually the interplay of different relationships and contexts. Again, what's happening outside of me, inside of me, in different relationships, and even things like weather. All of those things affect our thinking, emotions, decision-making and then our actions. And then we start repeating certain actions and certain behavior patterns and that's how we snowball into a specific result. And, by the way, you can create good snowballs or bad snowballs. And let's talk more about snowball effect and good and bad snowballs, so sorry.

Speaker 1 4:52

The snowball effect in a nutshell. The snowball effect is a metaphor that describes any action or event as it evolves from something unimportant to something larger and more significant. The metaphor is named after the analogy of a snowball as it rolls down a hill covered in snow. The snowball effect describes a scenario where one action or event results in many similar and more significant actions or events. Have you ever made a snowball Guys?

Speaker 1 5:23

I grew up in Siberia, so for me it's like a natural part of my childhood, making snowballs and snowmen Six months of the year winter. So we had plenty of time. We had skiing classes, a lot of time outside, even during school time, right. So making snowballs was a part of my life, even though learning about how I can apply that in my life didn't really, uh, get into my awareness till many, many years later, like two decades later or so. Anyhow, this snowball feedback loop, so a lot of things in nature, in business, in our habitual behaviors, have this nature of a snowball.

Speaker 1 6:10

So let me give you an example from my personal life. That used to happen at some point before I learned well, used to happen in a bad way before I learned how to use it in a good way. So you wake up to bad weather and then your brain starts going into the direction of ruminating on all the bad things that happened recently. Among all the good things, because of it's raining and it's gloomy and in Siberia, where I grew up, it was quite a usual occurrence and all of a sudden you start thinking about all of the bad things that didn't work out exactly as you wanted. And then all of a sudden you want to stay in and watch some movie, and then, while doing so, you decide to stay in and eat all the comforting foods because, well, life is not that great and it's raining outside, and then you don't feel like working out today, now and the next morning, and then you don't feel like doing much, because when you exercise and move you get more energy, and when you don't, you just feel like sitting, and then you don't. You just feel like sitting, and then you don't get the dopamine that you usually get from movement and exercise. And all of a sudden you don't feel motivated to do anything and you feel less energized and less driven. And then it snowballs into a whole week, or sometimes many weeks, of just barely doing anything and definitely not doing your best. And that's how we snowball into falling off the wagon with exercise, with our eating habits, sleeping habits, relationship habits, our work ethic.

Speaker 1 7:49

So it started with this one small thing, the weather that triggered one thought, one emotion into the negative direction. This is how snowball effect works in your life. It can work the same in relationships, when one word, one phrase triggers a whole cascade of stuff that comes out of it the stuff that you're not proud of. And all of a sudden you create this fight out of nothing, which then snowballs into perhaps many days of not talking to each other, and then maybe a ruined relationship. Other and then maybe a ruined relationship. And sometimes it starts with something as simple as not I don't know getting some grocery that you asked for, exactly the way you want it. And you know how that happens Snowball effect and that the same thing can happen in your business. You make one decision and then it creates a certain interaction with your customer or a business partner or an investor, and then that triggers bad mood in them and that snowballs a whole bunch of things which might result in your business closure or losing a whole lot of business.

Speaker 1 9:11

So snowballs, and then also in nature, there are many feedback loops that trigger more and more severe results, like melting of ice in, I think, antarctica or Arctica I'm not that great with that part of scientific research or accumulating of carbon dioxide gases right, the more it accumulates, the more the weather changes. The more the weather changes, the more it accumulates, and the further and further down the consequences get worse and worse and worse. And so the good news we can actually turn those bad or dirty snowballs into good and white ones. And how do we do that? Well, what I learned in coaching and in my personal change is the most important thing. First, you gotta become aware of this happening. Become aware of this happening and, by the way, in the link to our show notes there is a really good worksheet made by Precision Nutrition Experts where I'm constantly getting through some coaching program, just because it's so damn awesome, like the things that they teach you about change and coaching and different aspects of health, and not just physical health but also things like existential health. Anyhow, the worksheet to become more aware of triggers and behaviors and what causes those snowball moments and patterns of behavior. So the worksheet, the link to that worksheet, absolutely free, is in the show notes, but anyhow.

Speaker 1 10:51

So the first step to making those snowballs, to turning the snowballs into good ones, into the ones that produce vicious circles versus, or virtuous circles versus vicious circles that produce negative outcomes that we don't want, right? So the first step is raise awareness. So the first step is raise awareness Notice the behavior, the pattern, the loop, the snowball loop that you don't want to happen. So notice and then identify the trigger. This is a crucial moment. Figure out what was it that started it. No-transcript going and going and going and going until you get the result that it has a lot more significant consequences and not the good ones. Right, what is the trigger? What starts this snowball rolling in the wrong direction? And then, once you identify the trigger, brainstorm alternatives. And then, once you identify the trigger, brainstorm alternatives what actions could start a positive, good snowball forming instead?

Speaker 1 12:18

For me, it's almost, in most cases, the behavior that I don't want. The antidote to that is going for a walk, getting outside, doing some movement, just keeping myself moving and changing my thinking, my emotions. Movement changes your biochemistry, it changes what reactions happen in you and that changes your emotions and that changes your thoughts and that ultimately changes your actions. And then also, I listen to someone who always puts me in a better, more proactive, someone who always puts me in a better, more proactive, more driven and productive state of mind and emotions, something like Alex Hormoz's podcast or Simon Sinek, or there are so many great podcasts and people who you just listen to and they put you on the right track back. So brainstorm those alternatives. Again, for me, walk, because you can always walk. I don't know, unless you're in some sort of captivity, you can always walk right. You can always change your state physically, maybe do a few push-ups, jumping jack, listen to your favorite music, whatever that is, and then brainstorm all these alternatives and then take action.

Speaker 1 13:22

The next time when you notice that trigger Maybe again bad weather, conversation with a certain person or people when you notice that trigger, implement the antidote immediately and with practice it gets better and better and better. And, by the way, you're not going to be feeling like doing it, because your brain gets used to specific patterns, specific cycle or specific sequence of events, and whatever is different from that will feel uncomfortable, like not yourself. But guess what? Maybe the old self is not the one that you want to build or create or save and retain. You want to build new behaviors to create new you, a future you, and so change always feels uncomfortable to the level of your brain and emotions. So expect it. And when you introduce new action, just expect it to feel weird, like it's not what I usually do, because it isn't, and that's how you start rolling a good snowball, a whitey snowball, the one that leads you towards a better future outcome, and that same thinking and that same action plan you can apply to anything, whether that's your business, whether that's relationships, whether that's your work, whether that's your health habits exercise, sleep, eating, eating.

Speaker 1 15:10

It's a way. It's again something that comes from a field of research that's called systems thinking, and I guess the most important thing to understand here is in your life and you as a person and your business, it's never just one thing, it's the interplay, it's the relationships, never just one thing, it's the interplay, it's the relationships, it's all of these parts of the system that work together, and sometimes you don't even see all the parts of the systems, and that's what makes it challenging. That's what makes identifying triggers so challenging, because sometimes you think you see it all, but very often we don't. And so we also got to learn how to see better, maybe using different tools, different people, getting outside of your own head, asking questions, getting feedback right. That's why getting feedback, for example, either from data or from other people, is so important.

Speaker 1 16:06

So, anyhow, the most important takeaway, folks, is realizing that what you do, what your business does, what happens in your relationships, it's never one thing and it's a result of relationships, of interplay, of external-internal environments and all these kind of triggers and realizing that and thinking deeper about change and putting in place the right kind of triggers, guardrails, creating the right kind of environment so you create consciously the right kind of snowball loops, the right kind of snowball loops, which then create the change that you want much easier and on steroids. Some people even call it exponential change. All exponential change not all, but at least what I thought of, like a lot of it, is based on that snowball effect, on this self-reinforcing feedback loop when you put one thing in and then it just keeps rolling and rolling and rolling and rolling until you get this big, huge snowball that makes it impossible to not notice, that changes the world. That's how, actually, nature makes a lot of change super easy, investing the least possible energy. So snowball effects and snowball loops are everywhere. So start noticing them. That is thing number one. And then start learning, testing, experimenting with, introducing those micro triggers that change the direction of the snowball, which creates the change that you want much easier, simpler and faster. And that's it for today. That's what I wanted to share with you this Monday, or whenever you happen to listen to this podcast.

Speaker 1 18:10

To listen to this podcast If you are blown away, just like I was by all these system thinking concepts, the snowball effect. Then give me a shout out, share this podcast episode on social media, on Spotify, on Instagram. I'm on Instagram, angelabrainbodycoach. Tag me or email me or send me a message. My email Angela at BrainBreakthroughCoachcom.

Speaker 1 18:34

Don't forget there is a behavior awareness worksheet linked in the show notes if you want to work on that awareness of why certain things happen and how to interact in the right time, in the right way to create better outcomes using the snowball feedback loop and what else. If you find this useful, please do share it with other people. Let's help each other to do better in our personal lives, in our personal health relationships business. Let's help each other to do better in our personal lives, in our personal health relationships, business. Let's thrive together. And till next time that's your homework Start noticing those snowball loops so you can create the life that you desire a lot faster and a lot easier, just like nature does. Talk to you soon. Have an awesome snowball in a good way kind of day and a week.