The Details...

Whenever you honestly examine some aspect of your life, it becomes apparent that how well you handle the details will determine the level of satisfaction you find.

For instance. I have talked before about the pickup truck. If I had not spent the time picking out that perfect camshaft for it, I can tell you that the experience of hearing it run would not have been the same. Come to think of it, modified cars are a great example of details. Think of all of the things that separate one hot-rodded car from the other. The wheels, the paint, the engine, the finish of the interior. The list goes on and on and on. But that said, I can tell you from experience that the difference of as little as a quarter of an inch on the width of a wheel can make the difference in whether or not the wheel looks or fits right on the car.

But we aren't talking solely about cars here. Imagine going to the store. The things that you have on your list to buy are very specific. You don't need milk, you need 2%. or soy. or chocolate. You aren't looking for Doritos, you want cool ranch, or late night taco.

The point is that the big things never go overlooked. Its the details that separate us from greatness many times. Its the little extra touches. Some people call it going the extra mile. More often its just taking the extra small step.

When we get dressed in the morning, we all wear pretty much the same things. We all have socks or something similar on our feet. We all have something covering our legs and torso. We wear shoes. And if we all stood in line together, it is the details of those items that shed light on our differences.

Think of men's shirts for a bit. Often, I wear sort of a denim-ish shirt to work. But if I really want to look nice for the day; I might wear something more dressy. The details of those shirts is what makes the difference in how I appear to my customers and coworkers. I generally will wear the same type of pants and shoes with either. But the shirts. They both have buttons. It is likely that they even have the same kind and number of buttons. They have similar collars. They have the exact same embroidery on them. But what a difference there is between a denim shirt and a crisp white dress shirt. Moreover, what a difference in the way the dress shirt looks with white buttons compared to brown ones.

Simple things can make the difference. How much different does a room look with a 40 watt bulb in the lights versus a 60 watt? Doesn't seem like much. Try it. Try it in your bedroom. If you have a workshop, try it there. It makes all of the difference in the world. The bedroom will be much friendlier, more inviting, not as harsh. The workshop will not be as usable, and your projects wont seem to work as well.

Ever been to a hotel that didn't put a mint on your pillow after cleaning up? Or bought a car and found old junk in the ashtray even when the rest of the car looked great? Most times, it is the things that would have taken one extra minute or one extra dollar that can really turn a person off.

Now for the reality of it. The details done correctly will never ever ever be a positive force for you. They tend to just make up the rest of the image. Not one time in your life have you looked at the ashtray in your car and said, " hey, there's no junk in it" You may have noticed that it was clean. But not in the way that you would notice it was dirty. You have never looked at my shirt and thought about the buttons. You have only noticed if one was missing or noticed that it looked very crisp.

But you will never get credit for following through on the details. You will only get whatever the opposite of credit is if you don't or aren't able to follow through and somebody notices it.

Interestingly, the level of pay that an employee receives works in exactly the same way. The amount of money you pay somebody will almost never equate to the level of satisfaction they get out of the job. Nobody goes to work and likes the job because they make a lot of money doing it. Lots of people go to work and hate the job because they don't think they make enough to do it. Details, like pay rates, can usually only be a negative. When they are a positive, they never seem to have the same impact. Every once in a while, people will notice perfection, but that is only in situations that they are looking specifically for it.

Point in fact. You can think of a time at a restaurant when you've gotten something off your bill at a restaurant because of a detail that was missed. I would wager that you have to think very hard to come up with a time that you have offered to pay more for the meal because everything was done right. You may have left a bigger tip for your server, but you didn't pay an extra buck for your steak.

Its because details are the things that are SUPPOSED to be done. If you are the housekeeper at a restaurant, you are supposed to leave the mints. If you clean cars, you are supposed to check and clean the ashtray. Whatever it is that you are involved with, there are things that people expect. They expect that your time and attention should be devoted to the details of the job. A housekeeper would never forget to vacuum the carpet. They might forget the mints. But that's the point.

In short, the difference between being good; and being great; is in the details.