How to See the Big Picture
Get tips on how to see the big picture instead of getting lost in the details.
I’m working on a new startup these days, JobTacToe.com. When you work closely with a small group, you start to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses and habits and weirdnesses. You also start dressing alike and speaking your own private language. I draw the line at matching tattoos, however.
The three of us all come from an engineering background, so you can imagine how tactful we are. “Morning Cat, that shirt looks awful. Polka dots? Really? Really?” And recently, my favorite was when one of my partners made the offhand remark, “Your biggest weakness is that you’re way too hung up on perfectionism.”
Do You Get Caught Up in Perfectionism?
Perfectionism? Me? Excuse me? First of all, maybe I am perfect, Miss Smartypants. Did you ever think of that? And she said it just because I wanted our graphics to look good. They had typed a phone number using periods to separate the area code instead of dashes. The period didn’t line up correctly, so I was merely showing her how to adjust the spacing between the characters. True, Microsoft Word makes it difficult, so I simply bought Adobe Pagemaker plus a new set of fonts, went through all the tutorials, then reproduced our graphic. This time, however, I moved the period 3/72″ closer to the left, and the phone number looked awesome!!
How the Details Can Get in the Way of the Big Picture
Ok, maybe Miss Smartypants was right. Maybe I got just a wee bit caught in the details. But isn’t that a good thing? They say the Devil is in the details. Don’t we owe it to future generations to find him and make him leave the details and go to Casablanca, instead? I think so. But when you’re doing an exorcism in the details, you can lose sight of the big picture. You end up spending way too much time on things that don’t matter.
I confess this has happened before. My last boss once told me, “You produce 95% quality! Sadly, our customers only care about 80% quality. You spend half your time getting from 85% to 95%. If you just settled for what they want, you’d already be exceeding expectations.” I understand this, but I can’t help myself. The details just have too strong a hold on my mind. I had to turn to Europa, the original big picture thinker, for advice.
How to See the Big Picture
She started by explaining I need a trigger that reminds me to stop and check if I’m caught in the details. A trigger can be internal. When I start getting upset, for example, that can be a signal to myself that it’s possible I’m caught in the details. When I raise my voice when discussing moving a period 3/72″ to the left, for example, that can be my trigger. My trigger can also be when I buy a $600 piece of software so I can move that period 3/72″. Or even just the feeling I get right before thinking, “I can do something about that period…”
A trigger can also be outside you. A fine trigger is when you make your daily to-do list. Since you’re outlining what you’ll get done that day, you’ll have great raw data to know if you’re caught in details. Or a trigger could be a certain time each day, or even a certain time each hour. Choose your trigger now!
Ask Questions to Move to the Big Picture
At your trigger point, Europa says to ask “Why am I doing this?” (a key question from the Live on Purpose chapter of my book Get-it-Done Guy’s 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More, available at your favorite bookstore, ebookstore, or audibookstore.) You can also ask, “What’s the goal I hope to achieve by what I’m doing right now?” “Why am I writing my expense reports backwards in a mirror?” “Because I don’t want anyone to read my writing but me.” Then ask why again. “Why? Because this keeps my writing private.” So what you’re really after is privacy. That, in the moment, is your big picture.
How to Find the Right Big Picture
But is it the right big picture? Your big picture concentrates on the handwriting. But maybe there are other big pictures. Europa needs those expense reports for the auditors. If you write them in your super-secret handwriting, chances are that Zelda in the accounts payable department won’t be able to read them and will send you a check for $3.87 while keeping the rest for herself. Zelda is not a model of integrity. Other big pictures could be that you’re trying to be part of expanding Europa’s empire to include North America. Or even that you’re trying to make sure your client gets billed accurately. Or that you’re trying to get a promotion and mistakenly think that creative writing in an expense report context is the way to do it. Make sure your big picture is one that you really want to achieve.
How to Check Your Big Picture
Once you’ve located your big picture, stop and think for a moment. Are the small-picture details you’re doing in the moment really the best way to reach your higher goals? When Bernice asks, “Why am I trying to grow my own organic sheep’s sorrel?” she finds a big picture that involves a ritual offering to the Seasons. When she asks why she’s offering sheep’s sorrel to the seasons, her big picture is that she wants her plants to grow strong and healthy. Now she can ask, “What’s the best way to get my plants to grow strong and healthy?” She may find that fertilizer is easier, less expensive, and more reliable than trying to grow organic sheep’s sorrel and offer it to the Spirits of the Spring. But Bernice rarely revisits her big picture. “I trust in the Goddess’s plan,” she says. “What if the Goddess planned for you to think about the big picture?” I ask, innocently. She just looks at me smugly and assures me that I simply don’t understand.
But Europa, fortunately, does.
Figure out what trigger you’ll use to double-check whether you’re lost in the details. When it’s time to check, ask “Why?” to find your big picture. Make sure it’s the right big picture. Then ask whether your current to-do item is actually aligned with that big picture. Play with this a few times, and then choose your triggers. Choose wisely, because as we all know, the wonderful thing about triggers is triggers are wonderful things.
Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!
Businesswoman image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the podcast Get-it-Done Guy from 2007 to 2019. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Computer Sciences from MIT.
