Big Picture

I came across this Blog Post. I liked it for its analogy on importance of big picture in our life. We get lost in details when sometime have to step back to see why those details matter. I guess we can apply this analogy for everything in life. Some fights over minor details might not matter when you step back and analyze.

I recently read a story which goes like this -

“One morning two young fish are swimming in the ocean. They come across an older fish who waves happily and calls out to them, “Morning, friends! How’s the water?” They nod in acknowledgment and swim on. Once they’re out of sight, one turns to the other and asks, “What the hell is water?”

We are deep into many details in life or at work, we lose sight of big picture.

Switching Gears

One should be able to oscillate between Micro and Macro view. We can’t lose one for the other. Let’s say you start a product company with a vision. You then start to execute your vision with some roadmap and strategy. Now we further split them into managable releases to realize the vision. These decisions need alignment with the Big Picture which is your vision. This becomes all the more important for success. Big picture is our guiding light. Big Picture is, ability to think and connect dots and build your view. Encompassing view is a rare ability for a person to have with a focus on an end state.

ShortTerm Decsions with Long Term View

One aspect I have observed in some leaders is ability to make many short term decisions. These are decisions made with help of long term view. Sustaining this ability for many years is key for success. When you look back, you would see all these decisions fit the big picture.

Attitude

How come they develop and present the big picture to others ? It comes down to Attitude. They don’t feel overwhelmed. The focus will be on the problem with calmness and make decisions to come out of it with end goal in mind. Good visionary will cut through the noise. Focus on essentials with sincerity and do the right things over easy way out.

Creativity

Humans are darn creative. It is the people who focus on harnessing them to their full potential can dream of future. They can vizualize where they need to go. The relentless pursue of their dreams is what defines them. They connect dots and get everyone moving towards it. They are all in once they know where to go . They can see things from 10,000 feet high. They are wise enough to listen to people who have already been there where they wanted to go.

InDepth Knowledge

One quality that defines “big picture” people they are always a student first. Not superficial but dig deep into them. They get to details soon enough. They immediately become valuable to people around them. You cannot ignore them. They don’t do for sake of impressing people but with passion for knowledge.

People should appreciate all these aspects of big picture. During their early periods, they focus on low level details. Later, prior work helps in their visionary path. Big picture people cut through noise, appreciate knowledge and hard working.

References

• Big picture by Dr. Ben Carson
• Importance of Seeing Big Picture

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