LIKE MOST people, you’ve probably had a chance to knock over a few dominoes in your time. A standard domino is a little under two inches high, and if you stand up a series of them in a line and give the first one the gentlest of nudges, you can knock over the entire line.
What’s remarkable is how that single tiny nudge can topple a long line of dominoes. In fact, the world record is almost 4.5 million dominoes. And there are other records—the number of books toppled “domino-style,” the most dominoes toppled underwater, the most dominoes toppled in a spiral, even the most people toppled domino-style.
What you’re seeing when dominoes—and other objects—topple is momentum. In physics, momentum is the tendency of a moving object to keep moving. When one falling domino hits another, it transfers some of its momentum to that domino—just enough to knock it over—and then the process repeats itself.
It’s a metaphor that lends itself beautifully to pivots and to the second half of this book. Sometimes a gentle nudge, just a tiny action in the right direction, is all you need to get your pivot started. Once you get things moving, you build enough momentum to move along to the next step in the process.
This simple, game-inspired idea—that you can take one action, which leads to another action, and another, and so on—captures the best pivots perfectly.
Almost.
Because although a chain of millions of dominoes falling over because of one small action is pretty damn impressive, it in no way does justice to the true power of what happens when you set things into motion and begin to pivot. To say that it understates it is . . . well, an understatement.
A toppled domino actually has more than enough momentum to knock over another domino. Once nudged, a standard domino can knock over a domino 11/2 times its size. And that larger domino? It can knock over another one 11/2 times its size. And so on. From there, it’s easy to see that you can keep tipping bigger and bigger dominoes, but just how big is actually astonishing.
Imagine starting with a tiny domino, just 3/8 of an inch high. Next to it is a domino 11/2 times as large. And next to it, one 11/2 times as large again. And so on.
With just a breath of air, you could knock over that first tiny domino. It requires only the barest of efforts. That domino would knock over the next domino—which would still be slightly smaller than a standard one.
But things get big very quickly. So big and so quickly, in fact, that the twenty-ninth domino could knock over the Empire State Building.I
That is the power of small actions, and of momentum. Each action can trigger another that has a little more impact than the previous one. Each action can fuel a larger one that can power yet another larger one in turn.
Momentum, in this way, is like compound interest. It grows, slowly at first, but eventually becomes a snowball rolling downhill, growing exponentially greater with each moment.
The first part of this book was about clarity. About clearing the windshield of life so you can create a grand vision for your life that inspires you enough to decide, This is what I want.
And now?
It’s time to go get it.
Welcome to momentum, and to the first steps of the rest of your life.
In the second half of this book, we’re going to explore five principles for building momentum in your pivot. As with dominoes, each step builds a growing energy in your pivot. You’ll learn more about both your pivot and yourself. You’ll become more confident. More inspired. You’ll gain more clarity, more certainty.
And you’ll begin to take action.
The principles are:
1. Baby steps. Breaking your pivot down into small increments that are less daunting and more doable.
2. Ritual. Creating the space, routine, and habits that foster successful pivoting.
3. Pivot people. Finding, managing, and working with mentors, stakeholders, and peers.
4. Resilience. Facing adversity and using setbacks as a way to move forward.
5. Growth. Investing in yourself to create the ultimate pivot advantage.
If you don’t feel you have a complete vision for your life yet, don’t worry. That’s fine, and it’s normal. You don’t need to stay stuck in Part I of this book, waiting for a perfect vision of your life. Clarity doesn’t always arrive shrink-wrapped and preassembled like furniture. Sometimes it arrives in parts. It changes, shifts. You pivot once, then again.
Remember that you can’t always see the top of a staircase from the bottom step. Sometimes you need to take a step forward to see where you need to go next. Sometimes, in other words, clarity comes from action.
Let’s get started.
I http://popperfont.net/2013/01/16/physics-of-the-domino-effect-or-how-to-knock-over-the-empire-state-building-using-28-dominos/.