How to Create a Domino Effect of Good Habits

How to Create a Domino Effect of Good Habits

Creating good habits tends to make you feel healthier, more controlled, and proud of what you are doing in this chaotic world of events. It's important to form a routine and prioritize the chores and tasks that your day needs from you.  Which is why I am here to introduce the domino effect.

What is a Domino Effect?

The domino effect states that when you make a change to one behavior it will activate a chain reaction and cause a shift in related behaviors as well.

For example, whenever you make your bed in the morning, you may do it again the next morning.  Five days later and you realize that this morning ritual of bed-making has become consistent, a habit per se. After you have finished making the bed that morning, you also picked up a sock and folded a few clothes lying around the bedroom. Next, you found yourself in the kitchen, pulling the dirty dishes out of the sink and loading them into the dishwasher. Then you noticed your sloppy tupperware and reorganized them in a cupboard. Finally you light a candle and the routine of taking care of your household chores becomes a domino effect that grows with each new good habit that is added.

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As a personal example, if I stick with my habit of going to the gym, then I naturally find myself more focused at work, eating healthier meals, and sleeping more soundly at night even though I never made a plan to specifically improve these behaviors.

Additionally, the domino effect holds for negative habits as well. For example, the habit of checking your phone typically leads to the habit of clicking social media notifications,  which then can lead to the habit of browsing social media mindlessly, which leads to another 20 minutes of procrastination.

Our Behaviors are Interconnected:

In the words of Stanford professor BJ Fogg, “You can never change just one behavior. Our behaviors are interconnected, so when you change one behavior, other behaviors also shift."

Another interesting thing about the domino effect is that, it not only creates a cascade of new behaviors, but often a shift in personal beliefs as well. As each tiny domino falls, you start believing new things about yourself and building identity-based habits.

There are many different paths to getting dominoes to fall. Focus on the behavior you are excited about and let it cascade throughout your life.

Technology Support

And now for my my usual technology plug -- if you let us, your IT Support, handle the routines and procedures of your technology infrastructure, you can then be more intentional about forming good habits that are connected to your career responsibilities. Focus on your responsibilities, create a domino effect of good habits, and we will happily handle what is happening behind the scenes.


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