Using the Domino Effect in Life
Jennifer is a woman in her 40s. And only for a couple of times in her entire life, did she make her bed after getting up in the morning. If you visited her apartment, you could see that her stuff was all over the place.
One day after waking up, she decided to prepare her bed. The next day, she made her bed again. And again on the third day. However, something amazing happened on the fourth day — after making her bed, she picked up a sock lying at the foot of the bed, and folded up a few clothes.
In a month, she was organising her wardrobe, cleaning the sink, and most importantly, she felt happy and responsible.
All this from one tiny decision — to make her bed.
This piece is a quick look at the Domino Effect, understanding why it works, and polishing the finer details so that you can apply it to your life from this very moment.
Basically the domino effect is a phenomenon describing how a change in one behaviour, activates a sort of chain reaction, that leads to significant changes in other related behaviours.
And there are two main reasons why it happens.
- You see, everything we do, our habits and patterns, are so interconnected that we do not stop to notice it. Hence, a shift in one area of our life, can lead to often drastic results in other habits.
- The second reasoning is based on commitment. Once you commit to an identity-based goal, a goal that is linked to your self-image, no matter how small it is, it often comes with a sense of pride once you reach that goal, and guilt if you back off halfway through. This keeps up consistency and subconsciously forces you in the right direction.
And with the fall of every domino, you just keep building on the momentum, and get to better yourself more and more.
That said, you need to keep in mind, that the Domino Effect is all about progress, not results. What you achieve is a consequence of the habits you build along the way. So you need to maintain momentum and consistency. Start away with the task you are most motivated for, and start small. It will be manageable and will keep you motivated to push ahead.
I bet you’ve probably seen those satisfying videos of a long chain of dominos toppling away till the end. And sometimes, you know the camera zooms out, and once all the dominos have fallen, it reveals a giant artwork or a portrait on the floor.
The reason I am telling you this, is all that was done, was a gentle tap the first domino. And the entire chain just kept going.
Now think of your life as the masterpiece to be revealed, once all the dominos have fallen. All you need to do now, is line up the dominos and whack away at the first one until it falls.
Done properly, the rest will simply fall in place.
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