The domino principle states that one event can cause a chain reaction. This is particularly true of business events, where a good idea can lead to success and a bad one can ruin a company.
Dominoes are small, rectangular blocks used in games of chance or skill. They normally feature a line in the middle that divides them visually into two squares, each with an arrangement of spots or pips. Depending on the game, doubles may count as one or two (a 6-6 counts as both 6 and 12), and blank tiles may be valued zero or 14 (depending on rules).
Lily Hevesh was 9 years old when her grandparents gave her their classic 28-pack of dominoes. She fell in love with the simple joy of arranging them in straight or curved lines and then flicking them over, letting the entire dominoes cascade down one after another. This fascination eventually led to her becoming a professional domino artist, creating mind-blowing setups for movies, TV shows, and even the Katy Perry album release.
When Hevesh is working on an installation, she usually starts with a theme or purpose in mind. This allows her to brainstorm images and words that will be conveyed by the design she is building. She then begins planning out the track and figuring out how many dominoes she will need to complete the project.
Hevesh’s process is similar to the way an engineer designs a new product. She creates a prototype of each section of the installation and tests it out by placing it on a flat surface. This way, she can see what needs to be tweaked or adjusted before she creates the final version of the layout.
While Hevesh is a master of domino art, not everyone can be as skilled at creating and executing an effective plan for their own business or personal life. However, everyone can learn from the principles of the domino principle and apply them to their own lives.
The next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, try to break your tasks down into a series of “good” dominoes. This way, you can achieve your goals more quickly by focusing on the important tasks first. In the workplace, this means identifying the most important task for each day and then ensuring that the most significant job is completed before moving on to the next. The most important jobs are your “main dominoes,” the ones that have the greatest impact and require your full attention until completion.
Whether you’re writing a novel off the cuff or following a detailed outline, plotting your story comes down to a single question: What happens next? Using the Domino Effect will help you answer that question in a way that is exciting and engaging for your readers. This is because the most important element of any plot is not action, but reaction. The actions of your characters must cause reactions that will make the story compelling and keep your readers turning the pages.