Can you tell the difference between a detail and the big picture?

It depends on perspective.

I’ve gotten a lot of email over the past few days thanking me about writing the GTD stuff that’s helped transform my own performance over the years. But, I’ve also gotten the same amount of skeptical messages challenging me on everything from why I’m even involved in the business at this stage to what the role of the CEO in the organization happens to be.

Some of you may be reading the Harvard Review case studies a little too closely to get what they are really about:

CEO’s aren’t external facing creatures that don’t get involved in the operations at any cost. Successful CEO’s understand their industry and how the unique advantages their companies/services/products help them go from where they are now to where they want to be today.

To put it more bluntly..

The same guys that are stuck in this mindset that because they are the CEO / Owner / President of an IT solution provider are the same guys that are running into a wall on moving managed services.

That war is kind of over folks.

I often have this conversation internally as well. We don’t need to perfect the technology we should have released a year ago – we just need to get stuff up there and let the people catch up to us. Everyone wants to be a perfectionist, but if your entire business model is wrapped around the ability to manage a workstation or a PC.. Well, don’t listen to me.

Listen to CES: Expecting to launch over 80 different tablets.

Quick, how much do you make providing managed services against a tablet?

We used to have a world in which employees had a workstation and a server account. The more important ones had a laptop maybe. But then they got a mobile phone. Then a netbook. Now a tablet.

The answer is, you don’t get paid for providing managed services on a tablet. You provide managed services on a per-user basis which is easier to price than a complex breakdown of all the devices and services the people use.

Bringing it all together

The details of how you manage yourself let you see the big picture of what’s going on around you and give you a clear path to going where you need to be.

Much like athletes train for strength, speed, vision, coordination, balance – successful professionals train for accountability, meeting deadlines, not letting criticism get to them, ability to handle negative feedback, ability to continue working despite setbacks and so on.

The point, if I may be so obvious about it, of writing down your goals, milestones and processes is to keep on motivating yourself.

There are no cheerleaders in business. The sentiment behind those $20 Office Depot employee of the month plaques is so thin that it doesn’t even make people at McDonalds try to get your order done correctly.

If you can’t push yourself, nobody will. But everyone will line up to beat you down.

So the point, ladies and gentlemen, is that dealing with the details helps you understand the big picture and the outline of steps along your journey to the end result you desire is a set of motivational incentives to keep you working.

Bad day? Focus on the negatives and let it ruin your day. Or focus on where you need to be and keep on fighting.

That… is the point.

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