Latest / Man In Your Corner with Shaun Tucker / The Science of Progress: Why Small Wins Are Your Secret Weapon | Ep. 110
Transcript
- Shaun: Welcome back to the reset. I am Shaun Tucker, human performance scientist and authority architect. We are here in the Living Lab documenting the struggle, the science, and the shift for every high performance dad and founder who is ready to bridge the gap between their ambition and their presence. Today we are diving into why celebrating small wins is the key to longevity and success, so that we can help you. Master the man underneath the performance. If you understand human psychology, human behavior, and why this is such an important topic, you'll start to see why that the biggest and most successful people on the planet they know this and they use this to their advantage. There's a really, really good reason for it. The research backs it up. Psychological research, human behavior research backs it up. And anecdotally, I can say that. This is absolutely true as well. Celebrating those small wins, it allows your brain to see that you're making progress. Whereas if you are chipping away out of a mountain or if you're climbing or scaling a mountain and it feels like you're not going anywhere, it is really hard to continue to go. It is really hard to continue moving upwards when it feels like it's never ending. Because the way that serotonin and dopamine work, they work with each other. One completes the cycle, the other one initiates and goes to complete the cycle. One is a goal getter, the other one is the goal setter or completion. Because you can't have one without the other. probably works a little bit differently to the way that you think it does. Dopamine is the goal setter initially. It is the one that actually moves you towards where you want to go. But the funny thing is, if you only have dopamine and there's no completion, there's this feeling of unease. There's this feeling of demotivation because you're you're not actually getting that reward or getting that closure of the loop that started. And you'll notice this on your social media, if you're one to scroll through your feed or scroll through the reels or whatever it is. Unless you have some sort of completion, the the mind it will quickly move on, don't don't get me wrong. But you'll actually lose a lot of energy. You'll you'll have energy leaks because if there is no sense of completion, Your brain can only produce so much dopamine before it restarts. And it needs serotonin to actually finish that loop. This is why it's so important for people to complete and tick off tasks. Because if you've got lots and lots of open loops in your mind, yes, you're probably addicted to dopamine, but you're gonna really struggle when it comes down to finishing finishing them. And starting new projects because you've only got a limited amount of dopamine before you become burned out, so to speak. There's only a limited amount of that fuel reserve that you have, which is really the goal getter. And we get immense pleasure from actually going towards the goal. So long as we feel like we're making progress, which leads into celebrating those small wins. Because it's little micro checkpoints. And I'll use one example now. I just look at looked at the analytics for this podcast growth. Since the beginning of this podcast four months ago, there's been twenty two hundred downloads, so two thousand two hundred downloads. Which is fantastic like that's awesome. That is awesome considering it started out with maybe getting forty to fifty a week. We're now getting closer to two hundred a week, which is fantastic. It says to me that we're doing the right thing. This information, this content, this piece or talk that I'm giving, it is being consumed in some parts of the world by different people. I don't know exactly who you are if you're listening. So if you're listening and or you're watching it right now, I want you to comment, hey, like tell me where you're from. I'd love to know. Cause honestly I I just see numbers, I just see statistics. And I'm not really that I guess interested in just st statistics alone. I'm actually way more interested in the the subjective person behind the statistic. Because the thing is, stats don't really mean anything unless there are people involved and unless that subject is really involved. And it actually doesn't mean anything to the subject. Unless you're studying statistics, which is not my favourite class. Coming back to celebrating those small wins, it's it's so that your mind can then move on to the next thing. And if you don't feel like you're making progress and you feel like you're just scaling a wall that doesn't end, you're probably gonna give up at some point. There's only so much resilience that we have. Unless you're built like someone similar to David Goggins, it's gonna be really hard to overcome those those levels or those hurdles or those obstacles. Because we are human. We are human and our psychology often drives our behaviour. And if we're not making progress, if we're just suffering and we're continuing to suffer and push and move, sometimes the load gets heavier the the the more we try and move it. And if we're going in an uphill battle, it's no wonder we pivot, we we change direction, we we move differently. It's because of this fact we don't feel like we're making progress. So pos positive psychology, it often gives us the r the sense of reward as well when we celebrate these milestones or celebrate these small wins. And it doesn't even matter if it's one follower, one new follower, one more download a week, or someone unsubscribed. To me that's still a win. Because it means someone said, You're not for me. Which means it gives me the opportunity to get in front of someone who needs this, who will actually benefit from what I have to say. Which isn't always easy because it feels like maybe if someone unsu unsubs, I'm doing a disservice to the people. But you have to look perspective matters here. Perspective is huge. And if you're not for someone, it just means that there's someone out there that is for you. And because someone's unsubscribed, it actually gives them a chance to find you. and you to call them in a little bit more close to where you're announcing or amplifying your voice. So don't forget to celebrate those small wins. I know for me, I find celebrating small wins is pretty challenging. But I am part of a a mastermind where we intentionally celebrate wins for the week and we use that to kind of measure our progress and how we're how we're moving forward. And this is the hard part for me is actually getting the data in, measuring the data. actually tracking things and not just using the mind to track them but actually inputting them into a spreadsheet. Because data data doesn't lie, but at the same time. It comes back to those I guess progress measures. If you feel like you're not making progress, then what's the point in tracking it? But every little inch, every little centimeter, every little moment is a progress meter. And it deserves to be measured because you deserve. You are deserving. And that's as simple as it is. It doesn't matter if it's forwards or backwards or full 360 or a U turn, whatever it is. That little bit of measurement counts. Because it's you moving closer towards your goal. It's you moving more. closely towards where you want to go. And sometimes it hurts to hear the feedback, but oftentimes that feedback is crucial for your next step. So if you found this episode helpful, I encourage you to share it with one person. And that is it for today's episode of the reset. So if you are ready to stop being a passenger in your own life and start being the architect of your legacy, head on over to my website, shawntucker.com.au. Check out what I have there. But also remember to comment or reply to this video or audio wherever you see it with the word reset. And I will reach out and send you the seven-day reset guide. Because remember, most people wait for their life to change. We are the ones architecting the choice. Change your state, choose your life. I am Sean Tucker and I will see you in the next one.