Are you paying attention to the details?

Hey guys Mike Derryberry compass cleaning solutions.
 
Don't sweat the small stuff. At one time or another, we've all heard that, right?
 
I'm here to tell you I think that is a dumb saying. Here's why, how many of you have a hard time paying attention to the big stuff?
  We don't right? Paying attention to the big stuff is a really easy thing to do. Paying attention to the big things is easy because they don't allow us not to pay attention. They're in our face; they're in our business, they're always around us we're having to pay attention to them.
 
But here's the thing, the insidious thing about small things is when you ignore them over time they compound and when they compound, and they build up over time, they create big issues.
 
And more often than not, because they've been happening over time, a little at a time, those big things are now so big that we do not have the resources, we do not have the experience, we do not have any of the answers to be able to address and deal with those great big problems.
 
So my feeling is you need to spend some time thinking about the little things. Now in all fairness, I'm a detail guy. I'm someone who spends a lot of time looking at the details. I look at the analysis; I look at the data.
 
I'm a numbers guy, I love the details but even if you're not that kind of a person you still need to be able to look at those details and be aware of trends, be aware of things that are happening in front of you. If not you than somebody on your staff or somebody that you trust, you need someone who's looking at those details and saying hey, listen, we need to look into this.
 
You need to continually be aware of the little things because the little things will creep up over time. Before you realize it, they're going to be a big issue.
 
So what is it that I'm saying? Well, let's say you're looking at some details about your numbers. Most business people, if you ask them, so what were your numbers for last month?
 
Um, I’m going to find that information. You need to know your numbers for last month. You need to be able to give me or give anyone a pretty good idea of what your percent of her growth is, where your big expenses are, how are you generating your big revenues?
 
Those are some details. But, there are other kinds of details.
 
Are you aware of what's happening in your industry?
 
Are you aware of what's happening in the market?
 
Are you aware of what's happening with your competitors?
 
Are you aware of the kinds of things that are happening, the trends that are happening within your own business?
 
Those are details, and too often we just want to look at the big stuff, we want to look at the big issues. Well, that's great, except the little things are eroding your foundation, and they will erode them without you even noticing.
 
So this is an issue that I see coming up a lot, and I just wanted to kind of address that issue a little bit today.
 
If you would either agree or disagree with that, I would love to hear your comments and have you respond below. And if you're interested, check out my book, “Hard Knocks: A Real World Education in Business and Personal Growth” where we talk about these kinds of things and more.
 
Thanks have a good day!