How many times it happens with us that when we are preparing for something big and important (according to us) and the comments or feedback we get pertains to something small or insignificant (again according to us) which either we have missed out or kept it for tomorrow (and tomorrow never comes 🙂 )
In a relationship as well, in the initial “bliss” period, couples tend to pay attention to even the minutest of the things and over the period, these small things either go unnoticed or are taken for granted, which then leads to disappointment, arguments and fights.. If only you had remembered her favorite color.. if only you had not commented on his habit of keeping toothpaste lid open.. if only… then things would have been so better… isn’t it?
A criminal gets caught because of some small clue left somewhere and the cops achieve that break through because they paid attention to the small detail. The more and more we think of and analyse it becomes evident that the reason is often trivial for the huge destruction or even construction. After all, one small ant can kill an elephant.
It’s then an irony that we consider something as “little” when in fact it’s the little things that matter the most. Should we still call them as “little”?
While I am writing this, and doing introspection, my observation with my life is that for the life changing decisions like education, job, marriage and even baby, weren’t something I have spent long time evaluating the various options and taking the decision. However some inconsequential choices like from which shop should I buy clothes or which color of nail enamel to buy, I might have spent hours. While these activities are not critical and are in fact very easy to correct in case I am not satisfied, still the percentage of time spent on these is so much more (relatively of course !!)
In my professional life too, I guess these small things are the ones which take a toll on me and just build up to my stress. For instance, whenever I get anything to review, it has become my habit to see the spellings first and any spello-s just turns me off. One colleague recently gave me a feedback – I happen to go into so much detail or so many small matters to ensure that output is perfect , and in that process I fail to appreciate majority that has been achieved and harp on the matters left out.
Taking this feedback optimistically, its good that I am striving for something better. And the learning from feedback is that while trying to achieve perfection, I should not ignore the vast done.
I recollect reading a quote – Small things make perfection, but perfection is not a small thing.
Simply me 