Imagine I hand you this piece of paper and ask you to describe what you see:

You'd probably say something like the following...

• "A black dot"
• "A small dark spot"
• "A spot"

Interestingly, you probably wouldn't say anything about the vast white space surrounding the dot. Your mind goes straight to the tiny flaw and it becomes the defining feature of the whole.

The human mind tends to fixate on the negative while ignoring everything else.

This is a very simple illustration of a common cognitive blind spot:

Overgeneralization, or, more commonly, the Domino Mindset.

Dr. Julie Smith, a well-known psychologist and bestselling author, ​explains​:

"Every day, you stack up lots of these small actions. For example, you meet that deadline and you remember your friend's birthday. But then one small thing goes wrong, and in your mind...you instantly write off the whole day."

The Domino Mindset occurs when one small negative creates a chain reaction of negative conclusions.

• "I made a mistake on this task" becomes "I'm terrible at my job"
• "That conversation felt awkward" becomes "Everyone thinks I'm weird"
• "That was a stressful commute" becomes "My morning is ruined"

The first domino tips and cascades. The small piece of evidence becomes a full story. The tiny miss becomes the defining feature.

There's an old story of a young traveler on a long journey. Nearing the end of a successful first day, the road turns rough and rocky. Frustrated, he stops and curses at the sky.

"If this is what the path is like, I'll never make it."

An old man overhears the traveler and replies:

"You've judged a thousand miles by seeing just one."

We all do this every single day.

• A tiny misstep becomes a doomed career.
• A missed gym session becomes a black stain on your identity.
• A skipped morning routine becomes a mindset flaw.
• A tough conversation becomes a broken relationship.
• A moment of procrastination becomes proof you’re undisciplined.

So, the question I'd like you to contemplate this week:

Are you allowing a tiny miss to become your defining feature?

The Domino Mindset is the quiet thief of perspective. It convinces you that a temporary challenge is a permanent truth. That a single bad has the power to erase an entire stack of good.

The antidote is quite simple:

When you hit your dark spot, pause, take a breath, and zoom out.

Remember the size of the page that surrounds it.