Why you should sweat the small things (it’s what dreams are made of)

We write a lot about how and why you should have big dreams. Indeed, one of the most important concepts I coach people on is how to think big. Unless we force ourselves to set huge goals, we will consistently perform at the highest level of mediocrity.

But today we’re not talking about dreaming big. Today we’re talking about doing the small things. In the one small secret to achieve massive success, we looked at the importance of starting out small. But as we’ll see in this article, doing small is of equal importance.

Dreams are achieved by taking care of the small things. If you cannot take care of the small things, your big dreams are doomed to failure. The big dreams are doomed to failure because they are built on a foundation of small things.

Be awesome in the small things and the great things will follow. Be terrible with the small things and the great things will crumble. If you cannot be good at the small things your life, work, and business is likely to crumble.

Let me illustrate this point using the metaphors of  everyday objects such as ‘O’ rings and moss.

O-Rings and dreams

If you don’t know about O-rings, here’s the story. These little fellas live all over the place including in taps. When these O-rings are even slightly damaged, you potentially have a disastrous situation. For example, in one property, an O-ring in the shower had a minuscule amount of damage, which caused a large water leak in a shower, which splashed out onto the bathroom floor, which leaked out onto the kitchen ceiling below the bathroom.

Repairing the kitchen ceiling cost £600 and a lot of my time! If only the 50p ring had been replaced. Depending on the severity of the ‘O’ ring damage:

• If the ‘O’ ring is heavily damaged, the water destruction may occur over a few days
• If the ‘O’ ring’s damage is imperceptible, the water destruction may occur over a year and eats the wooden areas over that time

If any of the things we do in life is damaged (even by a small amount), this can leak out into other areas and have dramatic consequences.

The big problem of a little moss

What about moss? How can a little moss cause damage? Depending on the condition and quality of your roof, a little moss may grow on the roof. If that moss is not cleared, then over a year or two, that moss will fall into the gutter.

Whilst in the gutter, the moss out of sight. Over time the moss build up within the gutter will eventually block the gutter, and in some severe cases cause the gutter to collapse. Both conditions will cause water ingress into your properties which will cause discomfort to your tenants and ultimately you. Especially if you suffer from asthma or eczema.

You can see where the phrase a stitch in time saves nine comes from. By dealing with the little things as soon as you have time, you will save yourself a lot of time and money. So unless you can maintain your life’s grommets then your future could be in jeopardy.

But what on Earth are life’s grommets?! What are the small things that we can do to stop ourselves from obliterating our businesses, relationships, and health?

• Being courteous “Thank you”
• Seeking Instant gratification
• Work on something you love every day

Here are some small things that people miss. If you have time, write in the comments below. Write why the small things listed are important and the adverse impact they will have later in your life if you don’t deal with them today.

• Regularly backing up your computer data (which has all your photographs, videos and important documents).
• Working on something you love doing every day
• Remembering to say “thank you” to people
• Obtaining the keys for every property you buy (instead of leaving it to the estate agent to manage).
• Putting things back where they belong. Keys in the right place. Dishes in the right place. Pens, pencils etc all being returned to the right place.
• Drinking enough water each day
• Calling people back at the time you agreed
• Following through on your agreements
• Returning the small amount you borrowed rather than waiting for the person to ask or worse forgetting about the whole matter
• Passport in the right place. Not dumped in a drawer but placed in the right place and visible by you.

Today or tomorrow the small things don’t appear to have much significance. However, over time, the larger your success, your business, your awesomeness, the more essential it will be to have a good strong foundation of the little things in your life.

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Here are some articles that we hope you’ll find inspiring:

• Achieve any dream with buckets of rubble
• The one SMALL secret to becoming a massive success
• 5 powerfully simple ways to increase your wealth and value

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