Domino is a fun game to play. The thrill of a small movement causing the entire line to fall is mesmerizing. A similar effect happens when a learning challenge impacts a student’s ability to develop skills and knowledge. Unfortunately, compensating for these challenges often results in the student missing out on basic skills they need to become successful. This can have a domino effect on future skills that the student attempts to learn. Like a falling Domino, these problems can be difficult to overcome because they build up over time.
As a young girl, Hevesh liked to create her own domino setups and would record videos of them on YouTube. Over the years, Hevesh has built up her skills and now creates elaborate domino displays for movies, TV shows, and events, as well as setting records for the most dominoes toppled in a circular arrangement. Her largest creations take several nail-biting minutes to complete and can involve thousands of individual dominoes.
Hevesh says that she builds the biggest 3-D sections first, then adds flat arrangements and finally lines of dominoes to connect all the pieces together. Testing each section before putting them all together helps her ensure that the entire display will work correctly. She also films each test to make precise corrections if something doesn’t go right.
A domino is a thumbsized rectangular block that features a line down the center to divide it into two squares, each bearing from one to six spots—or dots—called pips. There are many variations of domino, but most sets are designed to play positional games that require players to place dominoes edge to edge against each other so that adjacent sides match either identically (i.e., 5 to 5) or form some specified total. Dominoes are also used to make a variety of geometric designs, including lines and angular patterns.
In the early days of Domino’s, the company focused on its core value of Championing Our Customers, which meant listening to employee feedback and implementing changes. This was especially important as the company grew. Domino’s new CEO, Steve Brandon, emphasized the importance of this approach to leadership when he took over for former CEO Dave Brandon in 2011.
Whether you are a pantser—one who writes without making detailed plot outlines ahead of time—or an outliner who uses tools like Scrivener to help you plan your book, this concept of “domino effects” is an essential one to understand. A simple example: If a scene isn’t resonating with your readers, it can be like an unruly domino that doesn’t have enough logical impact on the scene that comes before it. It may not even be at the right angle to cause a dramatic impact. This is why it’s so crucial to keep your eye on the big picture. This way, you can weed out scenes that don’t advance the story and instead focus on those that will.