Spider Web Effect [3 min read]
This morning, my oldest daughter grabbed a toy from my 2-year-old and it caused an explosion. During the next 15 minutes, crying, fighting, throwing, and yelling ensued. It triggered a web-like effect that lasted the entire morning. I had to step outside. My son screamed because they caught him in the cross-fire, my wife tried to intervene, and the newborn baby cried because of the noise. My oldest daughter is a good kid! It’s important to know that your actions branch out and effect other things.
I create spider web patterns throughout my day.
What caused this effect and why should you care?
The Spider Web Effect is just an analogy on webs. Try to count all the interwoven lines that connect each strand of webbing...it’s possible, but takes time. Each intersection of the web could lead in multiple directions, resulting in something completely different. One wrong turn could be fatal or life giving.
Our dominant attention goes towards avoiding pain and making life easier for ourselves. Many of the dominating items on sale in the marketplace assure the buyer that life will be easier if they just purchase the service. The new service will ease multiple other pain points... an effect that eases pain through adjoining points... almost like a web.
The same is true with actions and reactions.
According to Newton’s 3rd law, “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” The opposite reaction could trigger an endless amount of other reactions that are good or evil.
Do you think you get a place in the process?
I’d like to share a quick story about my painful journey discovering the spider web effect.
Years prior to this writing, I was overweight 30+ pounds, unhealthy mentally, spiritually, and physically. I was not a good version of myself. This persisted until I found myself in a hospital bed because of intense muscle spasms; poor stretching, exercise, overeating, over-drinking, and overdoing. The task master was myself, but the internal driver didn’t take heed of the warning signs. I found myself injured and on the wrong path.
Curled up on a hospital bed feeling worthless to my family, I knew something had to change. The change required was physical, but mostly mental.
To make this change, I thought about what actions I took throughout the day that led to harmful reactions. I needed the 1-thing that could start a chain reaction and fix all my problems.
What was the 1-thing that I could do that would put everything else into motion?
After some reflection, going to bed earlier every night provided the initial first step. Waking up refreshed, without a hang-over, and any of the midnight snacks proved rewarding.
This was my big internal discovery... not that crazy if you think about it. You might think, “So what, you went to bed early and everything goes away?”
Not necessarily, but it was the correct start - choosing to go to bed earlier put in motion a bunch of other positive spider web effects that enabled my path towards physical and mental recovery and here’s how.
Going to bed early meant:
- I had more energy to work out
- I avoided drinking at night
- If I didn’t drink, I didn’t snack
- If I didn’t snack at night, I didn’t gain weight
- Less weight meant more energy
- More energy meant more accomplished
- More accomplished meant more money
- More money, mean more to give
- Giving more returned more
- If more came back, it was easier to give more
.... a better spider web continued to grow
The point. Don’t underestimate all the small decisions you make during the day. If grabbing an unhealthy energy drink triggers a poor outcome, remove or replace and see what happens if you abstain from that substance.
With the click of a smart-phone button, messages can reach all the way around the world and set off a ticking time bomb. These reactions are uncontainable... look in the history books for reference or just look at what is happening now with COVID-19 and the fallout from decisions made around the world.
Examine the small triggers. You can directly influence your spider web for good or evil. It’s your choice.
To your success,
Dominic “Slice” Teich