The First Domino Principle

Adding value for those you want to influence

Are you trying to influence people? Is there some kind of way you want to add value to the world around you?

Even if you wouldn’t use that exact phrasing, my guess is the answer is yes. The problem is knowing where to start. And that’s where the “first domino principle” comes in.

The First Domino Principle is all about your target audience. If you feel uncomfortable thinking about your target audience, you can just think of the kind of people whose lives you want to change. Who do you want to influence?

Aiming at Nothing

When thinking of a target a common objection is to say "we want to be who we are for everybody." The target, one might say, is everyone. Not wanting to limit your influence, or not wanting to unfairly focus on just one group, our instinct is to "focus" on all.

The problem is that is not what focus looks like. Focus means choosing the best over the merely good.

"If you aim at nothing you'll hit it every time."

Over and over again while growing up my father would drop this quote on me, ensuring that I work to not “aim at nothing” and become more clear about what I’m really wanting to do. When you aim at influencing everybody you often end up influencing nobody.

The first domino principle means that your influence must start somewhere. Like setting up a table of dominoes that will all fall over in a sequential cadence, it will all start with that first domino. You just need to push over (influence) that one domino (your target) and if you properly push that one, then the others will follow. Thus, the only way to influence everyone is to start with someone.

Rick the Truck Driver

Let me give an example from my writing life: I was the writer for a book for Todd Burpo on the book God is For Real. This was the “sequel of sorts” to the Heaven is for Real book phenomenon that later became the popular movie.

As we approached the writing it was important for me to think about the audience—who would be reading this book? I chose a very particular target audience I called Truck-driver Rick. Rick is a semi-truck driver, the most common job for a man in the United States, and Rick doesn't read books, doesn't much ever go to church, and thinks Christians tend to be hypocrites. But Rick went to see the Heaven is For Real movie with his wife and kids, so he knows who Todd is, so his wife is going to buy the audiobook because she thinks he’ll listen to this one.

As I was writing the book I was constantly thinking about Rick as the reader, which was important for my writing because Rick and I have very little in common, you could likely guess. I read and write for fun, but Rick will only occasionally read a book and that’s only because his wife practically “made” him listen to the audiobook. The list of contrasts between me and Rick could go on and on.

In writing I wasn’t just trying to capture Todd’s voice, I was also wanting to act as a kind of translator for Truck-driver Rick to make sure it connected with him. Throughout the work I was praying Rick's heart would turn more toward God through the book, and that he would give God another chance to change his life, his family, and his world through it. In the process I was hoping Rick would even give church another chance.

Now, I could have made Rick’s wife the target audience, but in my mind if I make Rick the first domino then his wife is automatically the second domino that falls. While reading, I want his wife to think: “Oh man alive, Rick would love this if I could get him to read it!”

I could have made Rick’s pastor the target, but I was thinking that it’s better to write a book that makes the pastor think, This would be a great book for that guy Rick I only see on Christmas and Easter to read. In some ways the pastor is a target much further down the chain of falling dominoes. If I connect with Rick, and Rick’s wife, then I connect with the pastor too. And let’s be honest, the pastor may need to work a bit at connecting better with Rick anyway, and the writing can model that for him or her.

Difficult First Dominoes

In this case, Rick as the the first domino is a much harder audience to reach than the other dominoes. That challenge isn’t required, but is sometimes it can be a helpful thing to stretch your work. Your thinking can be: if I get this target audience down, then the others are easier to reach.

I used this first domino principle in my executive coaching for years, and it can be a helpful way for someone to clarify who they are truly trying to influence in life and it can help you adjust what you’re actually doing, just like it helped me adjust the way I told stories or the vocabulary of the book I was writing. Sometimes a person I coach has an epiphany that the kind of person they are really trying to influence has a disconnect with the kinds of ways they are leading or communicating, and it results in a major shift in much of what they do.

So, how about you? What might your first domino be for a project, business, manuscript, service, or ministry in your life? Or what about your life in general? Who are you trying to influence with all you do? Who is your first domino?