Everyone is pinging you wanting your attention, you have meetings about meetings but get nothing accomplished, and your inbox looks like a hoarding situation. You are overwhelmed and feel like you are at your breaking point. Go ahead, do it, just SNAP!
Oh wait! I don’t mean yell at everyone and throw your computer, actually the opposite! It’s time to Stop the reactivity, Narrow your focus, Adapt to the conditions and Progress.
SNAP is a method for stepping out of reactive thinking loops and into more deliberate and strategic thought. Based on cognitive behavioral theory and Kahneman’s work on System 1 and System 2 thinking, it is a four-step process designed to help you move from reaction to intentional action. Over the last few articles, we’ve explored how pressure can push us into automatic thinking, how focusing on what we can control helps us move forward, and how stories can feel like facts when stress is high. SNAP brings those ideas together into a practical process you can use in the moment.
Each step comes with a question to help you process through it.
- Stop reactivity – What evidence do you have?
- Narrow your focus – What is within your control?
- Adapt to the conditions – What can I do within those conditions?
- Progress – What is one step I can take to continue the momentum?
First, to stop reactivity you must recognize it. Those feelings of being overwhelmed, out of control, short-fused or ready to give up are good indicators. Also, when you hear yourself using absolutes like always, never, terrible, awful, must, have to and the like, it’s time to pay attention. When you hear it, ask yourself, “What evidence do you have?” When we stop and focus on the facts of the situation, we can separate them from the stories we tell ourselves. Does EVERYONE want your attention or is it a couple of people? Are you the ONLY one that does that job or are you the first to step up? Will you really get fired if you make a mistake or will it really just lead to an uncomfortable conversation? Now that you’ve slowed the reaction and focused on the facts, you can move to the next step.
Narrow your focus. What is within my control? I can control whether I delegate, have a conversation, read an email, and how I spend my time. I can’t control how others react to my choices. Once you know what is within your control, you can prioritize your options. What is the most important thing to do to keep moving forward? That brings us to the next step.
Adapt to the conditions. When in a reactive state it can seem like there is only one right way or only one option. When you step back, you can see you do have choices. Sometimes it is choosing between two choices, neither of which were your top choice. Movement is essential. A sidestep that moves you around an obstacle is still moving in the right direction. The key is Progress.
And that is our last of the four steps. What is one thing you can do to keep momentum? Then act on it. Maybe it is having a conversation with your boss, maybe it is setting time blocking to manage interruptions, maybe it is setting aside time each morning and afternoon to tackle the inbox, maybe it is actively evaluating what you want out of a role and if the conditions are right for you.
SNAP doesn’t eliminate complexity, difficult people, competing priorities, or uncertainty. What it does is help you interrupt the reactive loop long enough to see the next step and move forward with intention. When things feel overwhelming or chaotic, sometimes you just have to SNAP.
