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| Big Picture vs Attention to Detail
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Teachers have often told me to "pay more attention to detail," in fact I would say that is the most common piece of constructive criticism I would get on report cards throughout my public school experience. Perhaps, though, it is our obsession with detail as a society, as opposed to big picture thinking, that is the cause of our imminent demise.
Part of big picture thinking is not to embrace this kind of thinking exclusively, but recognize also the role that details have to play.
Here is an anectdote to illustrate my point.
When I was in Katimavik, the house managers of the week were responsible for everyone's lunch. We would go to work and eat the lunch they made us. Sometimes, the lunches were boring or not to peoples liking, and there were people who complained about that, and it bacame a big issue. However, big picture, we were still getting our breakfast, lunch and dinner made for us every day.
The other side of this issue was that, as house manager, it was frustrating to spent a lot of time, effort and energy into coming up with an interesting meal plan for the week including excellent lunches, and then have people throw out the lunch because they would rather go out for lunch.
The way a person looks at potentially frustrating situations is all relative, and it depends on how we prioritize things. For example, if someone spilled ketchup on my white shirt, I would not care because I realize it is just a shirt. Being in a good mood is a high priority for me, so I wouldn't let something like that bring me down. Someone who cares a lot about the ketchup on the shirt might be more concerned with the amount of money they spent on the shirt, or whether the stain would come out, or that they have to work later and they have no other clothes with them, or what have you.
In big picture thinking, I would say that all of these issues and headspaces are a thing I can not relate to, because I can't see a shirt as being anything more than a shirt.
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Posted by ramie on 2008-04-04 15:53:02 | Rating: | Views: 49
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THanks for openning my eyes to the OPEN or BIG PICTURE side from your POV. It pains me to say that I can be a mix of both. I WOULD be the one to get upset over the shirt as you said because it probably WAS an important shirt at a bad time. I wish it were easier to look past these things...but circumstances often just SUCK! Oh well.
But, good effort.
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Posted by brainstormer
on 2008-04-04 19:19:49
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I should also mention that I would probably side with you on the lunch matter. Id be less likely to make a stink in a loud way and just sneak out to get lunch if that was how I felt. I, despite some people's opinions, do not like to be a complainer or fight starter nor do I go out of my way to make people feel bad unless they made ME feel bad or angry.
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Posted by brainstormer
on 2008-04-04 19:21:39
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