Geoffrey Moore
Hold the Match in One Spot
Inspired by Geoffrey Moore episode
Geoffrey Moore's bonfire rule: don't run the match under a big log. Hold it in one spot until kindling lights. Same with cleanup—pick ONE visible corner.
Geoffrey Moore says entrepreneurs trying to cross the chasm make a fatal mistake: they run around trying to get any customer they can find. It's like running a match under a log. The log won't light.
You need to hold the match in one place until the kindling catches fire.
You're doing this with cleanup. "Clean your room" is the log. It's overwhelming. Nothing happens. So you nag, they cry, toys migrate from floor to bed, everyone's miserable.
Pick one spot. The bookshelf. Not the whole room. Not even the whole bookshelf—just the bottom shelf. Hold the match there. "Let's make this one shelf perfect."
Once that corner is clean and STAYS clean for a week, the fire spreads. They start noticing the rest of the mess because they can see what "done" looks like. The clean spot becomes the kindling.
Stop trying to light the whole log. One shelf. One bin. One corner of the Lego explosion. Hold the match there until something catches.
