Dominoes, Physics & Executing Small

What do Customer Experience and Physics have in common? I know what you’re thinking already: “Delete!” – but stick with me…there’s more to this.

I read a book during my vacation called “The One Thing” by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan (if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can download it for free on your Kindle or Kindle app). The book is based on the premise of Focus; specifically, if you focus on fewer things, you’ll accomplish more. I am sure you all know this, but there's more...

There is a physics example at the very start of the book about an experiment with dominoes. In 1983, a Physicist named Lorne Whitehead wrote in the American Journal of Physics that dominoes can topple many things; they can also topple bigger things. Whitehead described how a single domino can bring down another that is 50% bigger – this is also called geometric progression. (Quick side note: I did not do well in High School Physics, but have since found import in the topic.)

The implications of this finding were really important, and another Physicist 8 years later actually created the experiment live. The first domino was only 2 inches tall, and just a few dominoes later, the last to fall was three feet tall. To put this in perspective, if the first domino was 2 inches tall, then the 23rd would be the size of the Eiffel Tower, and the 57th the size of the distance from Earth to the Moon! A visual of this effect is below.

Why is this important and how does this relate to anyone reading this? Here’s the point: whatever we do – whether at work or in your personal life – it starts with one small move, one small change, or one small action. You can’t topple any challenge or achieve any goal without doing the one small thing first. From the book: “Going small is a simple approach to extraordinary results. When you go as small as possible, you’ll be staring at one thing. And that’s the point.” The one small thing is achievable, but leads to bigger things. You truly can shoot for the moon after that.

How do we make this applicable to ourselves, for our work or for our clients? One way to think about it is to look ahead and ask yourself: “What’s the ONE thing I can do next week, or this month, that makes everything else going forward easier or unnecessary?” 

I’m not sure about you, but life and work don’t always line up like dominoes for me, so I am going to try and line up my own dominoes (read: priorities) each day and knock the hay out of that lead domino first thing in the morning until it falls for me. 

So what are you doing to execute better for your clients? What's the one small thing you can do now to make your clients' lives easier every day? The work we do for our clients or for our employees is never a one off. It can have exponential impact when thoughtfully done.

Are you dreaming big, and executing small?