By Gretchen Rubin
In crime-fighting, the "broken windows theory" holds that signs of vandalism and petty crime foster more crime and anti-social behavior; fix problems like broken windows, graffiti, or trash when they're small, and people will behave better and remain in their neighborhoods.
This theory is controversial, but whether or not it's true in a municipal context, I've been trying to apply it in my own home, by trying to do a better job of fixing small things right away.
Just yesterday, a light bulb burned out in my office. My instinct would be to put up with this for weeks, while half-heartedly reminding myself to replace the bulb, to little effect; instead, this morning, I marched myself over to the closet where we keep light-bulbs, grabbed one, and swapped them out.
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