For Want of a Nail
Sweat the small stuff.
If you didn’t clip your fingernails today, no one will notice. If you don’t clip them for a week, maybe one person will notice. If you don’t clip them for a year, everyone will notice. Small seemingly invisible things compound.
Philosopher and priest Franz Brentano on how small errors compound:
“What is at first small is often extremely large in the end. And so it happens that whoever deviates only a little from truth in the beginning is led farther and farther afield in the sequel, and to errors which are a thousand times as large.”
“What is at first small is often extremely large in the end. And so it happens that whoever deviates only a little from truth in the beginning is led farther and farther afield in the sequel, and to errors which are a thousand times as large.”
jamesclear.com • 3-2-1: On Allowing Yourself to Be Happy and Full, and How Small Errors Compound | James Clear
Butterfly Effect — “The concept that small causes can have large effects.” (related: bullwhip effect — “increasing swings in inventory in response to shifts in customer demand as you move further up the supply chain.”)
medium.com • Mental Models I Find Repeatedly Useful – Medium
A proverb that originated in the Middle Ages and comes in many forms tells us, “For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, the horse was lost. For want of a horse, the rider was lost. For want of a rider, the battle was lost. For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.” This version was published by Benjamin Franklin in 1758, and he
... See moreDan Gardner • How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors Behind Every Successful Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration
If success is a catalyst for failure because it leads to the “undisciplined pursuit of more,” then one simple antidote is the disciplined pursuit of less .