How to build a good chain of Habits using the Domino Theory.

over 3 years ago

Our habits are somehow tied to each other. When you do something, another thing follows it. There is a popular saying from my side that when a child lies, he/she would steal.

Jennifer Dukes Lee, a model and a writer. Shared a bit of a story and how she lived decades of her life with a habit of not laying her bed. She lays her bed whenever she wants to have a visitor or her mama is coming around because she wanted her mom to feel she has trained a gem.

When it got to a point, she decided to make her bed for 4 days in a row. On the morning of the fourth day, she finds herself doing other house chores after making her bed. She arranged her cupboard. Clean the kitchen and made everywhere look great.

In her content, she said,

Jennifer Dukes Lee

My act of bed-making had set off a chain of small household tasks.
And then I stood back and admired all of it, because hi, I’m weird.

I felt like a grown-up — a happy, legit grown-up with a made bed, a clean sink, one decluttered cupboard, and a pig on the counter. I felt like a woman who had miraculously pulled herself up from the energy-sucking Bermuda Triangle of Household Chaos.

Her consistent action of fixing a bed for only four days set her to do more of similar activities. This continues to have beneficial effects on other things she does, and she becomes a perfect person. This is an obvious example of a chain reaction of increasing effects. On April 23, 2015, she published a blog, “If you want to change the world, start by making your bed”.

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What is the Domino Theory?

Domino theory starts that when you cause a change of behaviour, there will be a change in other similar behaviours.

This is common in almost everybody, and you could have a similar event at one time in your life. You found out that when you do one action it leads to another action without you planning them. Whenever I play football on Saturday, I would be very active to fix my works and sleep even before night. But I am kind of person who doesn’t have a siesta. And it goes like that on other things. Including negative things. You may be working and decided to check what is happening on news and this leads to the habit of switching to other movies channels and you will spend your time there.

Human habits are connected, and so are the results. When you change or improve one habit, other things would be affected. This shows you don’t have a series of bad or good habits. You only have a drive that gives the same results in everything you do.

My sister always falls in this trap of missing things and not doing her work at the right time. I told her — “Your problem is procrastination and nonchalant attitude. You don’t take things seriously and you joke with almost everything”. This is the same person who finds it difficult to stay on a week of consistent exercise because he wants to look good and sexy.

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Using the Domino Theory.
You only need one push, and everything would follow. A change will never happen if you don’t start it. Just like the popular quote: Nothing will change if nothing change. You just need one key to make a change.

Motivation: What is the only thing of value that motivates you? Start with it. If you like to look more beautiful, it is not only using Mary kay or wearing Gucci, Louis Vuitton or Victoria Beckham. It is about building the quality that will make the designers look good on you.

Push one domino of bad habit and you will see the effects on many areas of your life.

Thank you. I appreciate your time in reading.