[00:00:39] Vesna: Welcome to the Peak Revival Podcast. My name is Vesna. Today I'm gonna talk about the winner effect explained and why acknowledging your wins makes a huge difference to the results that you create. Now, I've been. Following this for years, unknowingly. And I recently picked up a book which talked about it and I thought, oh yes, that makes total sense for me. That absolutely works. And so sometimes, you know, we look for the right strategy, having the right mindset and something. It can be as simple as
[00:01:07] acknowledging your wins
[00:01:10] that has a huge impact on your results, and quite often what we look for is the results first to then, you know, be happy about our progress. But it's kind of backwards, right? I'm gonna explain why. So how often do you achieve something, something good happens in your life and you literally go, oh yeah, that's great, and you brush it off and you forget about it. But if something's going wrong or something could go wrong, you focus on it, you obsess about it, or you overthink it, right? And it's on your mind.
[00:01:40] You can't let it go. It's interesting, right? The things that. Bring us joy and that we were working towards and that, make us feel good, like something that's a good result. We don't really give it much time to focus on, we just focus on the negative, right? We focus on the gap. What's the potential problem ahead?
[00:01:58] What we don't have, right? That's [00:02:00] where our mind gets stuck. Duck.
[00:02:01] I noticed this with my work many years ago with clients that, if you were left to your own accord to track how you were feeling, you would say that you don't feel any different, or maybe you feel a little bit different, right? Sleep, energy, appetite, whatever it is. when someone is tracking you.
[00:02:18] You really see the big leaps and bounds that you've made in your progress. That is hard to identify because we have trained ourselves to not look for these things. We have trained ourselves to look for the negative, and I'll explain more. So our brain has this default setting. So we have the amygdala part of our brain, which is the tiny, tiny little center that activates the fight or flight response, creates the downstream effect of stress.
[00:02:44] Cortisol disrupts our hormones, breaks down our gut causes insulin resistance belly. And so much more, right? But that little amygdala is a threat detection system so it is constantly scanning your environment automatically for threats. and this is your brain's filter, and this is what?
[00:03:03] Gets your attention. And so the RAs or the reticular activating system doesn't distinguish between what you want and what you don't want. It simply looks for what you focus on, right? So the amygdala's out there scanning for threats. You are habitually trained and programmed yourself. To look for what could go wrong?
[00:03:24] What is wrong? Where's the gap? What don't I have right now? And so the reticular activating system is looking for that, right? So you've got the amygdala at work, you've got the RA system at work, and you're not focused on anything that is for a long period of time, I should say, not focus on the good for a long period of time, but you'll spend a lot more of your thinking process stuck on.
[00:03:45] The bad, the negative, right? And so these two systems are working together as a default setting, looking for all the negative things, right? And the unfortunate thing is that plays a big role
[00:03:57] on our mood
[00:03:58] on our brain chemistry
[00:03:59] [00:04:00] and even our results.
[00:04:01] So the RAs, this reticular activating system highlights more problems. It's a, it's called a confirmation bias. You literally see more of what you're looking for. So a really good example is, you know, you're thinking of buying a red car or a blue car, right? You don't see them anywhere or a particular type of car, like, I'm gonna get this Honda, or I'm gonna get this Mercedes, and you don't see it.
[00:04:21] And then all of a sudden when you want to buy it or you want that car for yourself, you see it. Everywhere. Right? And that's called a confirmation bias. And so that's that system at play, basically bringing your attention. So you're literally seeing more of what you're looking for.
[00:04:35] So I, I found this book recently called The Winner Effect by Ian Robertson, and he talked about how when we have success, it changes our brain chemistry and it makes us more focused. It makes us more smarter, it makes us confident, it increases our hormones as well, like it's as powerful as any drug. And so he said, successful people or winners understand this, and they use it to their advantage.
[00:04:59] So for example, instead of looking at the negative, instead of looking. What you don't have right now, or comparing yourself to others or what went wrong, right? But really searching in your day to find what went right?
[00:05:14] What's good about my life?
[00:05:15] What am I happy about?
[00:05:16] What did I achieve today? What are the little micro wins that I have today?
[00:05:21] And actually spending time enjoying that, like actually going into that and bringing up those feelings of. I'm pretty proud of myself. That was pretty good. It's micro little win, but it's a really good win. Right. That's really great. I actually would've loved to have that win so much, probably a year ago, and now it's like a, it's like a micro win now, right?
[00:05:38] So really get into it, get excited about it. Right. And what that does. It changes your brain chemistry. And as Eden Robertson said, it's more powerful than any drug. And And what it does, I kind of look at it like a staircase, right? So as you create that acknowledgement of that win, and you really bathe in it, right?
[00:05:59] You kind [00:06:00] of go up the next step of the staircase, right? And then you see more opportunities of things that. Are working well for you, more opportunities come your way, right? It's a funny thing. And then as you bathe in that a little bit more, you go up another step. And as you continue to do that, more opportunities, more good luck, more things happen your way and you're enjoying that process more, and you keep going up another step and another step and another step until you reach a completely new level where you are.
[00:06:30] Finding success is much easier for you. And when I talk about success, I'm not talking about business success or career success. I'm talking about relationship success, weight loss success, health success, money success, right? So all different areas because if you start to focus on your wins. You're going to find more wins.
[00:06:50] You're going to create more wins, which will open you up to more opportunity. But there is a biochemical shift that happens in the body as well. So your brain literally becomes upgraded. You start disconnecting from all that negative stuff that you're focused on, and you start to see the positive. And so it's really about retraining the brain.
[00:07:08] And I think, you know, when I look at my work with clients, so I've been using this effect for many, many years because when I speak to clients. And I'm gonna talk about what we do in our programs too. But when I speak to my clients, you know, I will always ask them, where's your energy at? Like, how did you say how, how's your sleep been over the last week?
[00:07:26] And I will use their words, their language. I'll write it down, right? So in the beginning, when I first see them, after a week or two weeks, whatever, I check in with them. I'll ask them the same questions. I'll ask them like, how you been going? Yeah, okay. You know, or, yeah, great. But yeah. Okay. All right. So let's, let's have a look.
[00:07:43] So what about. You know, last time I spoke to you, you said like, you know, in the afternoon, like your, your energy was crashing at like two 3:00 PM. And they're like, oh, I don't even have that anymore. That is so funny. Oh my gosh. I didn't even realize I don't have that. I have not had that at all. Right. And then you talk about something about stress, [00:08:00] about sleep or, or cravings, and they're like, no, that, that is crazy.
[00:08:03] That is so much better. But they don't notice it. Right? So I, I literally use their words. I write it down and then I repeat that back to them when I see them. And it does so much to upgrade the brain that they go, yes, I'm. Actually getting great results here, which they did not notice themselves. And it's really powerful because it helps them to create confidence.
[00:08:23] It obviously changes their brain chemistry, but they create confidence. they find the next step a lot easier, right? So we keep building upon that, right? So that the end, they've had great success and they feel amazing and they're very proud of themselves. But it's a very important part of the process.
[00:08:38] I do that in our program. So I, I ask people every week to acknowledge their wins and some do and some don't. And sometimes it looks like, oh, that's a nice to have exercise. But it's literally upgrading your brain and it's literally changing that reticular activating system to find more wins, which is leading you to move.
[00:08:57] Another step up that staircase to this point where you become at another level, you become at a much higher level than you were at the beginning.
[00:09:08] So you're like elevating your state, you're elevating your mood, your, your mental energy sharpens. You see possibilities that you couldn't see before. You have a confidence that you didn't have before.
[00:09:18] when you are operating at a different level, you have different opportunities available to you at that level. And that's the whole idea of, all right, and that's the whole idea of the Winning Effect book that EED Robertson talked about is that successful people. Understand this, they ride the wave of the winds no matter how small.
[00:09:35] They stack those wind and they keep riding them, and the more they feel good, the more opportunities come to them. The more they can create better results. They keep stacking those wins. They ride that wave, and then the next, and then the next. Right. It kind of makes sense as I'm describing it, but how often honestly, do you sit and think.
[00:09:53] Yeah, but I still have so much weight to lose or you know, I'm still don't have the money that I wanna [00:10:00] have, or my business is not in the place that I want it to be, or whatever it is, right? How often are you thinking that rather than, actually I did do really well, right? This is, this is a win. This is a great win, and really sit in it and enjoy it, right?
[00:10:13] Stretch it out, bathe in it, like really enjoy that moment. So it has that biochemical shift in your body, so it does start to retrain the brain.
[00:10:23] So looking for wins can literally be your fuel to the next level of success in whatever your goals are right now. Okay? Can be personal, can be health, can be business, can be anything. So this, using this as your strategy. To fuel your success without willpower, without trying to force yourself or discipline.
[00:10:41] Right? It's very simple. There is, I guess, some discipline because you have to keep refocusing. You have to keep reminding yourself, oh, hold on. I am looking for wins today. Right? And so the question isn't whether you're making progress. the question is are you looking for it? Are you looking forward in what you're doing right now?
[00:11:00] 'cause I promise you, as you see the progress, you start to feel better and it just becomes more enjoyable to continue that process.
[00:11:08] if you are in one of my programs, please acknowledge your wins when we ask for them. And if you are doing anything else on your own, it would be a really good time to start listing out at the end of the day, what are my wins for today? And really start to enjoy them. I'd love to hear your comments below this video.
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