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