Whenever we want to improve a particular area in our lives, we are given these two pieces of advice.
“Don’t worry about the small stuff. Just take care of the big stuff.”
“Pay attention to the details. Then everything else will be taken care of.”
Which side is “right”?
Both sides are right.
Then which side is “better’ if any?
Like all things, it’s not either/or.
The magic is in the order in which they are put to use.
When you first start off, tackle the big things – THEN take care of the details.
But it doesn’t end there.
You repeat the process and refine it every time you do so.
The classic example is the cleaning up of one’s financial situation.
The majority of advice lies in the details – clip coupons, carpool, shop at thrift stores, etc.
But look at the bigger expenses first – most likely your car and house.
You don’t have to have a huge car payment every month. Get a reliable used car to scale down that payment and choose a higher deductible on your insurance, which will be lower already because you switched cars and right then and there, you killed 2 big holes in your budget with one stone.
You can also rent out a room or your garage and you get another big whack at your housing expenses there.
Those two things will free up some nice chunks of cash for you to do as you please and then after that, then you can go into the details.
Then you can look for deals on food, clothes, maybe switch the light bulbs to save on electricity, get a better deal on your cell phone, etc.
After that, you can start the process once again by focusing on the other side of your financial situation – the money coming IN, not the money going out, which you focused on before.
Think of the major move you need to make in your career and/or business and then go on to take care of the big things you need to do to set that into motion. Maybe you need to go back to school or take classes to get certification or save up money to launch your own business.
After you take care of those big elements, then you can focus on the subsequent details to refine it.
This goes for any new venture you’re thinking of getting into. Just get it going, forget about perfecting everything, just do the major things that need to be done to get the ball rolling. Then you can focus on the details later on.
The people who stress the importance of details – they’ve already got the initial main parts down and they’ve got the ball rolling.
People who talk about the big things – they’re still in that phase where the initial momentum is carrying them.
Both pieces of advice help.
The application of them just depends on where you are right now in your own situation.
