Broken Window

Recently an acquaintance of mine asserted that she would not stop eating an enormous amount of fast food despite its health consequences. What was her reasoning? As she put it: “I smoke cigarettes, so what’s one more bad thing?”

This reminded me of the “broken window effect”. Coined in a criminology book, it deals with the consequences of how one problem, if not fixed, compounds into other problems. Needless to say, this general theory can apply to many different topics. Quoting an article:

Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it’s unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside.

Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars.

Our bodies, and more generally our lives are the building. What broken windows do we have that may be less obvious than smoking? Have you ever experienced that sigh of relief or surge of productivity after simply cleaning up a room in the house, finishing a serious talk with someone that has been put off for ages, or finally getting around to that project? You just fixed a broken window.