Do Little Things Count?
Well, I’m smack-dab (or “dam-smack” as my 7 year old says!) in the middle of a full-fledged writing week, the first of 4 scheduled for this year. The writing weeks are something which my co-author and I co-created for ourselves, as a structure and container within which to honour our commitment to work on the 2nd book in our series, without compromising or sacrificing the integrity of our individual coaching companies. With this structure, we can throw ourselves into the writing for one whole week at a time, feel the momentum, harness the creativity and really make progress, before letting things percolate for a while before we dive in again. So far, it’s been a thing of beauty — momentum galore, productivity abounding, and laughter that I’m sure would have people wonder about our sanity, if we were working out in a public setting.
As great as this all is, one of the things that happens during this sort of focused week is that I can’t be fully immersed in my coaching company. Makes sense; when I’m focused on one thing, I can’t be focused on another. I get it. I have allowed myself time at the beginning and end of each day to attend to the absolute essentials of my coaching practice — these vary a bit from week to week, but they’re the things that help keep me grounded and moving forward — follow up calls, mini-meetings, admin tasks, etc;. Again, they’re essential — and they feel “little”, compared to the bigger things such as proposal writing, concrete coaching and seminar delivery. Which has me ask the title question: do the little things count?
Even as I ask it, I know the answer. Of course they do! In some ways, they count at least as much, if not moreso, than the “bigger” tasks. These are the things that set the foundation and keep my business afloat. These little tasks are the things that lead to the bigger accomplishments. And sometimes, doing these little things requires a modicum (if not a big whack!) of courage. And commitment. And trust. When I can tackle all of these little tasks with these three qualities, what I know for sure is that I’ll be able to handle the the inevitable big tasks with as much courage, trust and commitment. The little tasks, in some ways, are a training ground for the big things. And the eventual accomplishments and successes that come out of these tasks — big or little — can be savoured that much more. Because I’ll know that I actually did what needed to be done to have the experience of this particular success.
Bottom-line, as a leader, I must be prepared to do the little things and the big things, even as I hold the vision and move towards my envisioned success. Not only do the little things count, they are the things upon which the foundation of true leadership success is built.