Big things will happen by doing Little things right

Did you ever realize that your future results, and your destiny, could be determined by those little things that you do everyday. When i say "little" things, i have no intention to mean that they have "little" value. I only mean to say that these things seem to take relatively lesser time, and probably may not have an immediate major impact on the outwardly results that we see, or so we may feel.

These so called little things could be as simple as polishing your shoes, cutting your nails, keeping your house neat and tidy, making sure you keep the shoes and towel in its place after using them or even keeping a book back in its shelf after reading it. Well, you may wonder what impact these little things have to do with the outcome of your life. The fact is that the way you do little things says a lot about how you will handle the big things in life.

Resigning yourself to mediocrity around your minor pursuits clearly sets you up for mediocrity when it comes to the major ones. If your home and your office desk is well organized, i can almost bet that your life is also well organized. A well organized life would mean great relationships, happy family, and also sound financial planning, which ultimately leads to reduced stress levels and a happy existence, apart from the achievement of your dreams.

If you are paying attention to the birthdays and anniversaries of your friends and their families, i am sure you are paying equal attention to the larger projects and opportunities that come your way in your personal and professional life. If your office desk is tidy and spotless, i am also sure that this will reflect directly in the quality of deliveries that you make to your client.

The reason for this correlation is very logical and simple to understand. A tidy house or office directly means an organized mind. Have you ever felt that when your office is untidy, you are more ruffled in your approach to issues and situations that come your way? Did you ever notice that when things are untidy at home, you scold your child more often? 

If you have never tried this, you can try it any day. You can see the result the end of the same day. When you go to office tomorrow, just try this. Make a conscious effort to make your office desk and its surroundings more neat and tidy than what it normally is. Don't tell me that it is already neat and tidy and you cannot improve it further. When you go to office and see your desk and think about it, you would yourself realize what improvements are possible. Once you have done that, then only you start the work for the day. 

Do not let it become cluttered during the day as you proceed with your work. Keep arranging and organizing the things as and when you feel the need & recheck the status of your desk for a minute after every 1 hour. At the end of the day, you would realize that not only you could do more work that day (which means you became more efficient), but the quality of your work also goes up. You will be able to resolve issues with better solutions, be handle relationships with your peers and seniors much better than you normally do. It is because when your mind is focused only on one thing at a time, it can focus more and give you many alternative answers to the same problem than when it is focused on multiple things at the same time.

I have a peculiar habit of taking a fresh sheet of paper everyday morning as soon as i reach office. Before i open my emails,  I jot down what all i need to handle in the day, from what is there in the mind. I keep adding more things as they accumulate during the day. I also keep scratching out the action items that i complete (The very act of scratching completed items give lot of satisfaction !!). Of course, i cannot complete all tasks in the day. But, when i come back the next day, i never continue adding more action items on the same sheet of paper although that sounds a more logical approach. I take a fresh sheet of paper again and rewrite all pending items from the previous day and then add if there is anything new. What is the difference? Seems such a small thing, but a fresh and uncluttered paper keeps your thoughts aligned and uncluttered as well. I have seen the results over time. Whenever i use a fresh paper, i am much more efficient and am normally able to complete many more tasks than when i continue on an existing sheet of paper. It is such a small thing, but imagine what can be the cumulative result of making this small habit at the end of the year if my daily productivity goes up by 15-20%. Not only i can show better results at the end of the year, i have more time with me. I can use this time to spend with my family, or to pursue my other dreams and passions. 

You can bring this kind of efficiency in every so called "small thing" that you do in life. You would realize that your life is changing for the good in every sphere where you bring this change.

So, pay attention to the details. Focus on the small things in life. Keep yourself and your surroundings neat and tidy. These habits will bring a change in your thought process. Fresh thoughts would lead to a better action. Better action would yield great results. And consistently great results would ultimately define a powerful destiny for you.

So, the next time, when you see your cars key lying aimlessly around on the table rather than on the shelf where it is supposed to be, don't ignore it. Make a habit of correcting this untidiness there and then. Because, with every such change, you are tuning your mind to become more effecient in everything it does.

Cheers

Manoj Arora