I've been calling these the "virtue cycle" and the "viscous cycle" - both being behaviors that reinforce "similar behaviors". Most people are familiar with the term "viscous cycle" and the idea of a downward spiral of reinforcing behaviors, but that same interlocking mechanism works in reverse too. One can generate an expanding series of positive behaviors to eliminate bad habits, promote positive behaviors and instill a more positive general attitude simply by proving to yourself that you are indeed in control of yourself.
Really good way to say it! In my experience, there's something to do with starting a "flow" that I as a human get stuck into. If the "flow" is doing things that I don't want to do but I _need_ to do for whatever reason (_because I told myself I would, because it will help my future self, etc_), I will be in a "flow" state of doing those things, causing the "snowball" effect or the "virtue/viscous cycle" as you describe it.
As someone posted above, there are limits to this but I wonder if there are systems or ways that we could _stretch_ those limits, possibly by making the _hard_ things not a choice and to be in this _flow_ state without needing to actively expend energy to be in it. Something like a muscle where the more you stretch it past its ability, the stronger it gets (_within reason_). As an example, when I started running, I could hardly do 1 minute without heavy breathing and now am able to run half marathons that, while tired at the end, are completely within my wheelhouse without feeling almost dead.
When I started running, I couldn't make it three city blocks without an asthma attack and cramps. Now I do 3-5 miles of hill running per day in the country summer sun. (Tennessee)
Over the past few years I have been developing a system based on incremental flow, as you mentioned. You can absolutely use small habits, and also leverage the Flow State proper in order to train. Eventually you are able to graduate to multiple spinning plates. (to reference your other comment). As you say the greatest danger is dropping all the plates in the presence of a minor stressor since you are operating at your current capacity.
What you end up needing to train is getting back on the horse. It's similar to the notion of "Returning to Breath" in a meditation practice. I have a leveling system and an economy built in, so that I gamify the practice of picking up the pieces. I'm currently working on smoothing out the difficulty curve, comparing several game mechanics like leveling down, adaptive difficulty, and triggering special modes. The idea is to have some sort of a pressure relief valve built into your life.
Fellow Volunteer here so totally empathize with the summer sun making the runs even harder!
I used to be far more systematic with my life many moons ago, in my late teens and early 20s. That helped immensely and I credit a lot of my personal growth towards that.
I don't think this is the best forum to get into the weeds about it, especially since everyone is different and YMMV. The root of the systems were to 1) create a singular, specific goal that was _the most important thing to me_. More important than pride, than sleep, than food. That's not healthy and only works so far so I then added 2) retrospectives every week on how I'm doing in relation to that goal. Are the steps I'm taking actually helping me reach that goal? Is that goal actually more important than anything else? Is that goal the actual goal I'm after or was it just a flag bearer for what I think the goal might look like? Being solely focused on one thing that influences everything and iterating on that goal are the two "systems" I now use in a general sense.
As an example, I wanted to get into software but dropped out of school and worked manual labor jobs. I decided that my only goal in life was to become a software engineer so I spent all my free time, all of my energy, all of _me_ in order to reach that goal. That came at the cost of the manual labor jobs which meant I had to couch surf for a few months/a year and get food from my friends so I could literally focus my whole life around that goal. I was blessed to have that support network, privileged one might say these days. I'm not saying that's a good choice and I doubt most people have the support network of friends with couches that they'll offer you. But I do think the _severity_ of my desire for that goal was the root cause of success.
Having a singular, focused, concrete goal is the biggest takeaway from all the other "systems" I used. Happy to chat more if that's your jam!
