How Do We Make the Big Picture Work?

Here’s a new approach to consider

By Susan D. Rostkoski, Principal Consultant

"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is an English-language pangram—a sentence that contains all the letters of the alphabet. According to Wikipedia, “the phrase is commonly used for touch-typing practice, testing computer keyboards, and displaying examples of fonts and other applications involving text where the use of all letters in the alphabet is desired.” 

Amazing, isn’t it, that one nine-word sentence can contain all the letters that make up all of the words in the English language? And isn’t it elegant in its simultaneous simplicity and complexity? 

Interestingly, complexity is often what we focus on, like a jigsaw puzzle, trying to fit the pieces together by looking at the whole picture on the box. But you can only put the pieces together one at a time. Big picture thinking is often encouraged in our workplace, and, while needed in some circumstances, small, simple, basic thinking (two pieces at a time) may be just what’s needed to make the big picture work. 

What if the various components of our day-to-day life are viewed as just such pieces? What if the building blocks are where we need to live first? What if we treated the simplicity of a single thread of our life’s tapestry with equal importance to the overall picture? Maybe we would see not a roadblock or a stumbling block but a stepping stone to be savored, explored, studied, and appreciated. How does that viewpoint aid us as we live our over-busy everyday lives? 

Example: You are driving your kids to school or soccer practice or a birthday party. The building block is your vehicle, since all the rest isn’t going to happen unless you have checked the tires, topped off the windshield washer fluid, and had the oil changed. 

Example: You are creating a new product/sales approach/brand. The building block is having the right people on your team/advisory group/cheering section—those who are honest with you, support your efforts, and use their talents fully. 

Example: You have repeatedly experienced a cold or upset stomach and can’t pin down what is happening. The building block is what you have for breakfast this morning or the walk you need to take after a stressful Zoom call. 

I can hear it now: “I don’t have time.” “My boss makes all the decisions about that topic.” “It’s too much work to start thinking this way.” But you have agency, the capacity to act and engage your wonderful brain in personal decision-making. You can choose. And there is always a cost to choosing not to do a particular action. 

So start pulling at the tiny threads in the huge picture of your projects, hobbies, emotions, and family dynamics, believing that there is the answer to more peace and productivity in your life. 

As always, please contact us if we can help you accomplish your mission (www.strategic-cc.com).