things (little and big)

“You’ve got to think about the big things while your doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” – Alvin Toffler

I haven’t written one of my quote posts for awhile.

I really wanted to write about something big.

Something really big thing.

Something important.

Something substantial.

But then something happened as I thought about this. A life lessons appeared in my pea like brain when I least expected it.

Frequently, we see incidents in life as “little things” and later we learn to our regret we recognize the same incidents as “big things.”

So oddly I end up writing about the small things.

But good ole Alvin says the truth quite well.

Although I would be tempted to add “… so all the small things go in the right direction and you end up near your big thing (whatever that may be).”

Juggling the small within the big is a challenge.

And not everyone is good at it.

And some people are really really good at doing the small things.

And some people are really really good at thinking about the big things.

But.

This post ain’t about doing.

This is about thinking big and doing small.

Big things are seemingly easy to do because we all see them. And they appear easy to check off our “to do” list.

But inevitably it comes down to the little things.

Yeah. We often overlook them (not necessarily on purpose).

That can be a big mistake (which is a big thing by the way) and a large creation of stress in our life (another big thing). However, small things most often have a large impact to alleviate some of these potentially negative ‘big’ things in our lives. Ok. Take a moment and think about it. Stress can be partially managed by doing a couple of really small things … like … show up on time …. and listen.

Whew.

Small stuff sounding types of things aren’t they?

Yeah. Sometimes small important things sound small.  But do big things. Make a big impact.

So. How about a couple more of these little things?

“Thank you.” And “thanks a lot.”

By now I imagine you get where I am going with this little post.

The little things that are big. Recognition and praise and sincerity.

I write all this because while I believe Alvin was talking about actual “doing stuff” I thought I would remind everyone that the truly impactful little things have absolutely nothing to do with doing.

Why?(here is the big thought in this little post)

Because the big things, the truly big things, are not individual things. Not “I did” things.

They are ‘we’ things or group things or shared things.

Really BIG things may be ‘I’ generated but they are “we” implemented to be truly big.  And in that belief we can often find the little things needed to be sure the big things happen.

But.

To keep all of this serous stuff in perspective let me share the absolute best ‘little things’ life list that really has nothing to do with ‘big things’ unless you consider happiness as a big thing (I do).

Here is the best small thing list I have ever seen was this (I don’t know who created it):

1. Making every green light.

2. I love potato chips. But especially, I love the folded-over chips you find occasionally in the bag. (I wish a potato chip manufacturer would make bags of all folded-over chips.)

3. Getting an aisle seat at any major sporting event.

4. Sinking a golf putt over 10 feet long – a rare occurrence.

5. Laughter.

And to end this semi-serious post about doing big things I would like to leave you with this thought:

“All big things in this world are done by people who are naive and have an idea that is obviously impossible.” – Dr. Frank Richards

And in that quote resides the true essence of doing big & little. Dream big.  Do little (not as in Dr. Doolittle).

In the end.

I truly believe the so called big things are not really that big (even dreams i will say).

In fact. Most often it is the little things that are the truly important things.

So when someone tells you that you don’t “think big” maybe you can take some solace that they don’t “think small” and you are happier because of that.