Lingchi (Chinese for lingering death) was a horrendous torture method used for hundreds of years before being banned in the early twentieth century (I know, that recent).
It’s horrendous and I’ll leave the detail to your imagination.
We often think something ‘suddenly’ happens, but could the truth be that we killed it with 1,000 cuts?
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The family business transitioning to the next generation. The new owners are happy to take some shortcuts (and cash). And ‘suddenly’ the business no longer exists.
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The relationship that suddenly deteriorates. Not because of one big plate-smashing argument, but 1,000 small criticisms and few compliments.
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Just one more slice can’t hurt anyone. Suddenly you can’t fasten that middle button.
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Customer service standards fall - just slightly. Suddenly (previously loyal) customers are wooed to go elsewhere.
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A restaurant saves a few quid on the quality of ingredients - good for the bottom line - then suddenly there are complaints and empty tables.
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The manager who lets their ‘favourite’ get away with sloppy behaviour and suddenly has a problem in their whole team.
- I’ll do it tomorrow. Procrastination creeps in and suddenly tomorrow ends up being never.
It’s rarely one big thing that destroys something; it’s the intangible, the unsaid, unchallenged and micro which builds up to the macro.
Don’t let 1,000 cuts take away what’s important to you (and please leave any comments below).
Be Brilliant!
Michael
PS I’m very excited to announce that Write That Book is coming back in November. I’ll email everyone the details next week and then will only message people who are interested.
If that’s you, then make sure you’ve joined the list of those who’d like to know more about Write That Book by clicking here.
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