Chip Shots by Chip Griffin

The Importance of Thinking Big

As entrepreneurs, we often get wrapped up in the little details. Clearly, details matter. They drive execution and most companies rise or fall based on how they execute on an idea. A mediocre idea well-executed will typically outperform a great idea with poor execution.

But whenever I come to Defrag, I am reminded of the importance of thinking big. Yes, the little things matter, but so do big things.

Think Big Thoughts

Great companies make both incremental and significant changes for their customers. Every day you probably spend time on those incremental changes. But don’t forget to take time to explore bigger ideas. What type of company are you really? Take Google. Most people would describe them as a search company, but a lot of smart folks would tell you it is really an advertising company. Expose yourself to new ideas and other big thinkers (like those at Defrag) to stimulate your brain in new directions.

Think Big Picture

Where does your idea fit in the grand scheme of things? Does it disrupt your whole industry or just a small piece of it? How could you disrupt your own company by thinking about the big picture? How do your customers use your product or service? What other tools are your customers using? Could you do something to better integrate with their other activities to be more effective and sticky?

Think Big Goals

You and your team probably make progress by breaking things down into manageable bite-size tasks. Lots of project management tools help you take a task and break it down into infinite subtasks. That’s cool. But think about what some really big goals are. Don’t be satisfied with setting achievable goals. Or even “stretch” goals. Think about what you really want or what you could actually achieve if all the right cards fell into place. I’m not talking goals that are almost certainly unachievable (you’re not going to get younger, for instance), but know what your biggest goals are — and then align your other goals to help you get there.

Think Big, Be Big

I realize I sound like a motivational speaker this morning. Perhaps it is lack of sleep. But the fact is that if you think big you are more likely to get big. Don’t get so focused on small that you lose sight of the larger things. If your ideas, your vision, and your goals are all big, that’s the path you will follow.

 

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One Comment

  1. Great blog, though thinking Big Picture can be hard to do if you’ve been programmed, marked and socialized to think in details through the learning institutions and societies expectations.

    You can imagine it like this if you can relate it to painting, Big picture thinkers think in vibrant colours and detail thinkers paints in various shades of grey, so to change what they do is hard work.

    Big picture thinkers thinking also isn’t linear, it jumps all over the place whereas detail thinkers think more linear so the process can seem messy to the outside though it is all connected.

    Big picture thinking isn’t structured yet it comes up with structure.

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