Domino, also known as dominoes or domino pieces, are small rectangular blocks used to play games in which one domino strikes another and causes them to fall over. They have a squared edge, are usually twice as long as they are wide, and feature either blank faces or numbers on them. The number of pips on a domino is called its rank or weight. Heavier dominoes have more pips than lighter ones, but some dominoes have no pips at all.
Some people use dominoes to create artistic displays, like a grid of dominoes that form pictures when they fall or stacked domino walls. Some people even build 3-D structures such as domino towers and pyramids. Regardless of what kind of dominoes someone uses and what they’re building, there’s one element that’s crucial to every domino setup: gravity. This force pulls a knocked-over domino toward the Earth and crashes into the next domino, causing it to strike and set off a chain reaction.
Whether you compose your novel off the cuff or follow an outline, writing a story is about building scenes that influence one another. The concept of the domino effect helps to ensure that your plot develops in a way that makes sense. The more complex your scene, the more likely it is to knock over the next one—and the next.
This is because, as the first domino falls, it converts its potential energy into kinetic energy (the energy of motion) and transmits some of this energy to the next domino. This explains why, when building a domino chain, it’s important to start with the largest domino, which will provide the push necessary to cause the other dominoes to fall over quickly.
A similar principle applies to our daily lives. By concentrating our efforts on the most important activity each day, we can help move other interests forward—just as a small domino can knock over much larger dominoes.
One of the best examples of this is Charles Schwab’s domino strategy. Ivy Lee taught him to prioritize his daily tasks by ranking them based on their impact. Schwab would work on the highest-impact task first, and then concentrate all his energy on it until it was completed. This allowed him to move his business forward, and eventually he became the largest steel producer in the world.
Another example is Domino’s Pizza, which has made technological advances that have revolutionized the way we order pizza. Customers can now place their orders using a text message, an app, or by simply speaking to a voice-activated device. These innovations allow the company to expand its reach and increase efficiency. As a result, the company’s profits have skyrocketed over the past decade. And it’s not just pizza: Domino’s now offers a variety of food options beyond its signature dish, including chicken wings and pasta. In addition, the company has a large research and development department, which is constantly working on new ways for customers to order their pizzas—including through Alexa devices.