Domino is a classic game played with tiles that represent numbers and suits. It’s an incredibly fun and simple way to teach kids about symmetry, balance, and spatial awareness. It’s also an excellent metaphor for learning about strategy.
It’s also a great exercise for improving your focus and concentration!
The “domino effect” is a powerful mental model that teaches us how to focus our efforts on one thing so we can knock over others. It’s a concept that can be applied to your personal life and your business, too!
You may have noticed that some of your biggest success stories have a lot in common with dominoes. When we take a moment to think about what’s working for us in our lives, it’s often the same thing: something that has grown through sustained effort.
That’s why it’s so important to be strategic when planning your next big project or launching a new business. The best ways to get a new idea off the ground are to start small and build it up, bit by bit, until you’re ready to take on more challenges.
When Ivy Lee, a business coach and friend of Charles Schwab, first introduced him to the concept of domino theory, Schwab was surprised at how much it connected with his own personal life. Using the domino effect, Lee encouraged Schwab to pick just one important task to focus on each day.
Once that first priority was complete, Schwab was free to move on to the second. By following this strategy, Schwab was able to “knock over” the most important domino every single time. In fact, this simple technique made a huge difference for Schwab’s company, Bethlehem Steel.
It’s this mindset that helped Schwab overcome the “flash in the pan” syndrome that so many entrepreneurs fall into. Rather than jumping headfirst into the latest business idea, he focused on the most impactful and effective thing he could do for his organization.
In doing this, he built up leverage that enabled him to knock over larger and larger dominoes in the future. He was able to grow his business and lead it to the top of its field.
Likewise, if you’re starting to feel stuck in your current role or aren’t achieving the results you want, it’s time to get a new perspective on what matters most to your organization. Then, you can put your energy and creativity into moving that initiative forward and getting it off the ground.
For example, if your organization needs to revamp its data analysis process, don’t simply graft on the latest analytics tool you see in the tech world. The problem is that tools from the software engineering world don’t yet fully mature in terms of how they support data analysis best practices.
So, you have to find a way to bridge the gap between these two worlds and accelerate modern analytical workflows.
For example, Domino has a team of data scientists who work on the backend of its online ordering system. They’re always looking for ways to improve the experience, and they’re also testing new technology. But they can’t do all of this without a strong, functional platform that makes their jobs easier.