Daily Dose 56: Broken Windows

Vandalism was rampant in New York when Mayor Giuiliani took over. More police and stricter law enforcement did not solve the problem, but fixing broken windows did. Repeatedly repairing windows broken by vandals sent a message that both the factory and its location were valuable assets.

If the mayor and his consultants had been sitting on Grandma’s porch 150 years ago, she would have told them, “A stitch in time, saves nine.”

The Path to Disarray and Destruction is Little Things

Your intentions are sincere. You want to SOLVE the clutter on your counters, your desktop, beside your bed, on the landing, behind the closet door. You even made another heroic effort to put all that stuff away. But then on your way to basement, it’s just so EASY to drop your book onto the counter (or the desk or beside the bed or whatever).

It started when the tail light went out. Then fruit juice spilled on the carpet. The back windshield wiper quit working. Now the muffler is gone. That car has been nothing but trouble and needs replaced.

The Path to Order and Stewardship is Little Attentions

The profitable inefficiency principle teaches that the short term inconvenience of returning the book to its place or fixing the tail light in a timely fashion are really accrued benefits in the long run. Why? Such attention maintains and increases your stewardship value for the whole room or car.

The better campsite principle teaches you always walk through the room looking for a way to make it better. Seeing an out-of-place book prompts an immediate improve it response to put away the book. You repaired a broken window. You put in the one stitch to save nine more after the seam rips completely out. You fixed something small and easy now to save you from fixing something big and time-consuming later, probably when you can least afford the time or the effort

What about repairing the tail light? Surely there is no connection between a broken tail light and spilled fruit juice? In such cases, your intervention stopped natural deterioration. You nipped the tendency for things to deteriorate and decay when left to themselves. Intervening maintains your perception of the item’s stewardship value, that it is worth caring for. When the next little issue surfaces, the increased the value of the item, makes it seem more worth fixing that problem, and so on.

Not rocket science, but you’d be amazed at the money people pay to have someone tell them, “Just do what you can do if it only takes five minutes or less.” Does paying for such advice make it more true? More guaranteed to succeed? Easier to do?

Attending to broken windows does not just help with clutter and minor car repairs, but significant pursuits like child training and spiritual disciplines, as well. Effective executives apply best practices wherever they can benefit outcome, especially when both Grandma and the consultants say the same thing.