Don't Forget the Wide Lens

Some days I can feel so out of touch, as both a business and a person, so mired in the every day little items that it becomes daunting to even look up. But when I do, I realize I'm working through a microscope.

Working the small ends of things is not a bad practice - it's how it keeps many of us detail-oriented. But if we dig too far into it, we can also lose perspective. We need to sometimes remember the wide lens.

My realization of this came from reading an article on science fiction everyone should read. It mentioned Azimov's Foundation series and I started digging into the synopses and it was spanning hundreds of years and generation after generation and the galaxy itself and I thought to myself: why do I not entertain my role in the world - on occasion - just like this?

I'm not saying visit your life in reference to the next ten thousand years of the Human Race in the Milky Way Galaxy, but in the larger picture of what are you doing this year or this decade in your field? How are you affecting others? How are you playing your part in both life and business and what exactly is the long game?

This plays hand-in-hand with being over and on top of life; get buried and it's difficult to dig out, but imagine you're addressing things while flying above the clouds and you take the control.

So while the phone calls and emails and tiny detail does matter, don't get entirely lost within it or you will one day be looking up and wondering what happened last week, trying to get a grip on what's going on "outside."

Finally, don't be intimidated by the feeling that everyone else has everything running perfectly; for the most part, everyone struggles to find a balance. Find yours. And welcome.