Lingchi (which is Chinese for lingering death or slow slicing) was a horrendous torture method used for hundreds of years before finally being banned in 1905.
Google it and read the descriptions, it’s horrendous…
Anyway, we often think something ‘suddenly’ happens, but could the truth be that we killed it – with 1,000 cuts?
Just one more biscuit can’t hurt anyone. Suddenly you can’t fasten that middle button.
The relationship that suddenly deteriorates. Not because of one big fall-out, but 1,000 small criticisms and few compliments.
And from a business point of view; quality and customer service standards fall – just slightly. Suddenly the previously loyal customers are wooed to go elsewhere.
Or a restaurant saves a few quid on the quality of ingredients – good for the bottom line – then suddenly there are complaints and empty tables.
Or the manager who lets their ‘favourite’ get away with sloppy behaviour and suddenly has a problem in their whole team.
REMEMBER, it’s rarely one big thing that destroys something; it’s all the little things adding up; the intangible, the unsaid, unchallenged and micro which builds up to the macro.
Don’t let 1,000 cuts kill what’s important to you.
Fundamental change, in a helpful way or a harmful way, is a result of incremental things over time.
And suddenly, you’re either deemed an overnight success or in a terrible crisis.
So we must see it coming. We must recognise the problem before it becomes a crisis.
And also see what’s working, yet remain adaptable, so that you can maximise your successes.
Death by a thousand cuts OR Life Success by a thousand incremental things done consistently over time.
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