Of all human abilities, one stands out, the ability to see the 
Big Picture,
 the things that are important in life, and not to be distracted by 
small, trivial, and irrelevant things; the intelligence to separate the 
message from the background noise.
 
‘The Big Picture’ is about the grand goals; the big dreams and 
aspirations people treasure in every stage and aspect of life. But how 
can you grasp and hold on to the Big Picture? What does it take?
 
Six rules that have been successfully tested in business and everyday life:
 1. Get your Priorities Right
 Setting priorities right is about making intelligent 
choices, deciding what goals to pursue in which order, which takes 
vision and foresight. Intelligent people rise over the hills and valleys
 of the present to gaze over the hills and the valleys of the future and
 see the invisible and the challenges it holds. Renowned entrepreneurs 
like Microsoft's founder Bill Gates, Apple's  Steve Jobs, and Facebook ’s founder Mark Zuckerberg
 had
 such vision and foresight; they could see how technology could change 
the lives of everyday people; and came up with products and services 
that will turn their vision into reality.
 
Getting your priorities right is about choosing whether to go to 
school, start your own business or working for somebody else; whether to
 get married or stay singled; whether to have children or not; whether 
to stay married or get divorced; whether to remarry if widowed or 
divorced; and you have to choose how to spend your money.
 
2. Use Resources Wisely
Using resources wisely is also about making intelligent choices. It 
is about deriving the most value out of limited resources; shopping 
around for the right merchandise by asking three simple questions: Do I 
need this piece of merchandise? Is the price right? Is this merchandise 
the best use of my money?
 
In some cases, using resources wisely means more than shopping around
 for bargains for the right merchandise. It also means paying the least 
interest and finance charges for the things you buy on credit. Shop 
around for the lowest interest rates on a home mortgage; refinance when 
interest rates fall sufficiently; and stay away from consumer debt and 
finance charges that add to the price of the merchandise you buy.
 
 3. Stay Focused 
 Staying focused means sticking with your priorities and 
goals; focusing on the message, not on the background noise; and 
executing. Take the right steps to reach your goals. That’s all that 
matters in the end.
 
It takes patience, persistence, and discipline to stay focused. 
Patience to overcome the hurdles that stand between you and your goal; 
persistence to overcome the failures, setbacks, and temptations that may
 take you off course; and discipline to play the game right, to comply 
with all the rules: know what you are doing, be punctual, and work out 
all the details.
 
 4. Develop the Right Relations
 Reaching a certain goal requires moral and
 psychological stamina.  It takes skills and resources no single 
individual possesses. This means that in pursuing personal success, 
people need friends and partners to overcome the many obstacles that 
stand between them and their personal goals. At school, friends can 
provide the moral and psychological support to endure and overcome the 
pressure that comes with class lectures, homework, exams, and term paper
 deadlines. Partners provide the information and expertise to go over 
complex concepts and to complete coursework projects, sharing of class 
notes, participating in discussion groups.
 
At work, friends provide the moral and psychological support to 
endure and overcome workplace-related stress, meeting project deadlines,
 handling customer complains, and dealing with internal politics. 
Partners provide skills and expertise to complete complex projects that 
require cooperation among several parties.
 
 
 5. Don’t be Greedy
 Greed is the idolization and relentless pursuit of 
something that lets people distinguish and set themselves apart from 
others—money, power, status, and so on; the feeling that they never have
 enough of it, and nothing can stop them from amassing and accumulating 
it.
 
Greed is an obsession that—like alcohol—numbs people’s senses, blurs 
their vision, and makes them lose sight of the Big Picture. Greed leads 
people to live a life of imbalance and disproportion, a life of reckless
 and dangerous behavior
. People who want everything in life 
fail to negotiate with others and compromise, and end up losing 
everything. People, who want everything from personal friendships and 
partnerships and become selfish and arrogant, end up destroying them.
 
6. Don’t be Complacent 
 Complacency is the opposite of greed. It’s the idolization 
of things people have accomplished, the feeling that they have reached 
the 
telos (ultimate destination).
 
This may sound contradictory to what was argued earlier about staying
 focused, but success isn’t an entitlement. It cannot be taken for 
granted. Successful people cannot afford to be complacent because good 
times do not last forever, especially in a rapidly changing world. 
That’s why complacency is dangerous. People who are complacent with 
their accomplishments fail to catch up with the rest of the world and 
are left behind.  At school, students who are complacent about their 
performance at the beginning the semester eventually lag behind their 
peers and end up failing the course. At work, workers who become 
complacent and take their jobs for granted fail to keep up with the 
demands of the marketplace by upgrading their skills and are the first 
in line to be laid off in an economic downturn. In marriage, people who 
become complacent about what they have accomplished and take each other 
for granted, end with apathy and indifference for each other.
Forbes.com