“There's no telling how many more bad things a single mishap can open the door to. In the same way too, there's no telling how many good things a single good decision can open the door to; benefits might even last a lifetime and beyond.”

One bad turn rarely stays one bad turn. It opens onto the next, and the next, and by the time you are three problems deep the first one looks small. The pleasant half of the same law goes unnoticed: a single decision made well opens doors in the other direction, and some of them keep opening long after you have forgotten making it. Neither chain announces itself at the moment of choosing, which is what makes small decisions worth more care than they usually get.