This Is The Astonishing Price Of Small Mistakes

Negligible actions add up. What seems trivial today, a week from, and/or a month later, can be consequential by the quarter, substantial by the year, and decisive by the decade. Small actions lead to big results. Universally. In teams and individuals. In personal and professional settings. Even the sayings agree. That’s something. “Little strokes fell big oaks.” “Patience is a virtue.” “Persistence pays.” “Small changes, big transformations.” “Small investments, big returns.” “Small efforts, great achievements.”

The Compound Effect

Small grows big. What seems negligible and limited now, can turn significant and unbounded later. Results compound. Impressive outcomes come not from intensity but consistency. The so-called snowball effect. A process that starts trivial and builds on itself, becoming larger and either more harmful—a vicious cycle—or beneficial—a virtuous cycle. The analogy is of a snowball rolling down a snow-covered hillside, picking up snow, enlarging it’s surface area and mass and picking up more, faster, repeatedly.

This concept extends into aerospace engineering. Particularly the reduction of weight in aircrafts and how that results in a multiplication effect. A lighter skeleton or shell—making for a lighter body—requires less lift. Less lift means you can install a smaller set of wings and get her up. Not only that, less thrust is needed to propel the plane, meaning a lighter engine. The original reduction in the corpus of the aircraft made for systemic improvements. This can be repeated.

Fraud Schemes

In geopolitics and finance, they call it the salami strategy. The delightful air-dried meat is salted, spiced, fermented for days to years, and traditionally sliced super thin. This is where salami slicing tactics get their name. A series of small actions are taken in lieu of one larger action because the latter would be unlawful, difficult, or impossible to perform. Salami slicing is used to achieve large-scale goals without significant escalation.

Finance specialists use the salami attack. They transfer large sums of money by repeatedly interchanging microscopic sums. Called fraud. Computerized banking makes it possible to divert tiny sums to a beneficiary’s account due to rounding. The scheme is simple. Bank transactions are calculated to the nearest smallest unit of currency. There is a fraction unaccounted-for. Bam. The fraudster grabs their share. In 98’, four men were caught hiding computer chips in gas pumps, slightly overstating the amount and pumping their accounts full. Another happened in 2008, where a man was collecting tiny deposits from brokerage firms with over 58,000 accounts—cents add up when you multiply by 58,000.

Yum… Frog Legs

These techniques work because of a human tendency called creeping normality. Major change is accepted and seen as normal if it happens through minor actions. That is, through small, incremental, often unnoticeable steps. The change otherwise appears remarkable and objectifiable—if it happens suddenly. It’s the age-old metaphor. Throw a frog into boiling water, and it jumps out. Put it into lukewarm water and bring it to a boil slowly, and it will not see the danger until the frog is cooked to death. Biologists don’t agree—a gradually heated frog will escape. Don’t let them ruin your fun.

But the boiling frog story is one you have to learn from. Small steps invoke big progress. Both ways. Positive and negative. Step in the frog’s shoes. Be cautious of change. Especially when it’s gradual and negative. Lest you will suffer undesirable consequences. Beware of slippery slopes and creeping normalities. Act against problems now, not when they increase in severity and reach catastrophic proportions.

The Software Engineers

On the other hand is the positive aspect. The Japanese Kaizen—”improvement”—for instance. It’s applied in continuously improving all the functions and processes of businesses and individuals. When you find something that is broken or incorrect and fix it immediately, that is point Kaizen. When you address system-level problems in an organized manner, that’s system Kaizen. Kaizen goes beyond mere productivity. As a daily process, it humanizes the workspace, eliminates unnecessary work, lowers waste, and teaches people to experiment to improve. No wonder Toyota is efficient.

Still, forget Toyota and get back to me. The negative aspect of the compounding effect figures prominently. Consider two men. Rob and Oswald. They are equals, most things considered. Both work as remote software engineers for large tech companies. Both single. Both childless. Equals, except Rob eats a routinely breakfast of five eggs. Scrambled. Oswald eats whatever is available and “doesn’t stress it”. At the time, they are of equivalent weight, productivity, job position, and education level.

Small Difference

Due to Rob’s hearty and healthy breakfast, he does not have an appetite for unhealthy snacks. He also does not undergo a sugar rush and crash postprandially, nor does he experience negative gut side-effects or dips in energy or mood due to malnutrition. Oswald nibbles on the leftovers from the night before—or something from the pantry—and gets to work. His meal might place him in a mini food coma, make his stomach ache, or give him brain fog, but he doesn’t connect the dots. Both fuel their bodies and they’re eager to conquer the day.

Check in with the nerds. Day one. Neither seems to stand out. Rob is fine. Oswald is alright. Their shirts and pajama pants—don’t tell their bosses—fit nicely. Productivity, creativity, and motivation largely untouched at the time. Oswald’s wife cooked a healthy dinner last night, thus he oiled his gears properly this morning. Rob had his eggs.

Eh. Nothing But Preferences.

Pay them a second visit. Day four. Oswald struggled to find a healthy option in his fridge today. Cooking time. His salami tactics aren’t as smooth as the politicians’. Ginormous slab of cheese. Ketchup. Piece of stale bread. Microwave the sucker, cause why not? Rob is finishing his champion’s breakfast. Oswald brings his soggy creation to the desk to not waste any productive time. He chose to rely on leftovers and uncertain fridge contents, and he’s paying the price. Lower productivity. Wasted decision points. His sloppy creation tastes… I’ll leave up to you.

One day is alright, right? Day forty. It’s been over a month. Rob’s boss is impressed with his consistency. Oswald is keeping up. He’s had mornings, good and bad. Frozen meals save him sometimes. The scale has been as constant as Rob has wished it to be. Oswald’s gut is protruding. Just a bit. It’s fine. What’s a couple of pounds? At work, Rob demonstrates uniform and high performance. He has spent his free time upskilling and staying up to date. His counterpart has contributed a great deal too. Nothing standout. He doesn’t really like books, courses, or seminars. Prefers recharging after work.

They Aren’t That Different

Nothing wrong with a bit of extra insulation. Day two-hundred. Crossed the half-year mark. Oswald’s wife got the worst of him today—not the first, nor last time. She didn’t need to do that. Why point out his slightly cluttered workspace—couple of plates and cans? What made her highlight his slightly larger waist? They argued. He even arrived to the urgent morning meeting slightly late. Ugh! “What a caring wife,” Oswald sarcastically reminisced, bending out of his webcam’s view to nibble on the ramen with no expiry date, feeding his mind and body with God knows what. Rob? Nailing it. Praised for the progress the small team he is in charge of has made.

Disagreements are part of a healthy marriage. Day three-hundred and sixty-five. It’s been a year. Rob and Oswald get up, brush their teeth, drink a glass of water, weigh themselves, and head to the kitchen. Both—thank God—have a wife they greet and a coffee habit to meet. While the coffee is brewing, Rob preps his healthful treat and Oswald gets his morning dosage of tweets. Whilst Rob eats, Oswald slaps together something quick and lets the microwave provide the heat. That was and has been the chief difference in their lives. Breakfast. Irrelevant. At first glance.

Screw You, Santa

Prima facie Rob and Oswald have barely changed. Lay them out on a sheet. Describe them. Everything is near analogical. That is, at first sight. Zoom in a bit. Same job? Yes. Rob is awaiting a promotion. Oswald fears a demotion. Same wife? Absolutely. Rob is happy, rarely has misunderstandings, resolves conflict. Oswald is dissatisfied, seldom fully deciphers the problem. Same mind and body? Not anymore. Rob’s mental and physical is well-nurtured, from his nutritional to learning habits. Oswald’s psychology and physiology are hungry as hogs, both in tangible nutrients and the intake of new knowledge. Rob weighs the same, although his wife has commended his lower body fat. Oswald put on blubber. Must have been the holidays.

What happened? Not much. The men had slightly different mornings. Could boil it down to minutes. Rob sprung out of the pot. Oswald enjoyed his hot tub. Surface-level, no distinction between the men. Maybe Rob eats a bit of a healthier breakfast than Oswald. Perhaps that has downstream effects on his productivity, creativity, mental well-being, physical performance, motivation, and body composition. Mayhap the trivial grams of sugar and hundred extra calories and reduction in mental capacity added up. You tell me.

How Small Becomes Big

The concept is known as the tyranny of small decisions. A phenomenon where a number of individually small and insignificant decisions accumulate to a large and significant outcome. One that is not wanted or optimal. Much of environmental degradation can be traced to this concept. The confusion and distress doesn’t stem from big, conscious environmental movements. Rather, a continuous series of small, unconscious choices. It’s an integral part of society and individual functioning. It’s why you don’t see global political revelations. Typically. Small-scale bureaucracy is easier and more effective.

Final Thoughts

To conclude, it’s sound advice to care for small discrepancies in routines, not only the big and apparent ones. These are the parasites, the invisible bacteria, which eventually chew you up from within. Hundred calories today. Thousands in a month. Pounds on the scale in a year. Obesity and metabolic syndrome in a decade. Early death later. “Good intentions are the seeds of greatness,” says Manuel Corazzari, “but they only grow when watered with action and consistency”