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While on the quest to cross things off your to-do list, details matter.
Details entail the issues you desperately don’t want to discover, as well as the path toward solving those issues in an efficient way. This article will focus on why details matter when interacting with those around you. The success of conversations you have, the arguments in which you partake, and the agenda that you push, all depend on how in tune with details you force yourself to be.
Being mindful of the details will force you to remember people’s names, their birthdays, and what they did last weekend. It will also enable you to dissect baseless arguments, see through empty conversation, and properly analyze the work of others.
Details help improve ourselves as well. The more detailed your diet regimen is, the more successful it will be. The more detailed your day is scheduled, the more likely you’ll follow what you’ve planned. Hopefully you agree that being detail-oriented is a generally beneficial trait to possess.
This article will not teach you how to become a detail-oriented person, but will simply aim to motivate you to be one.
Let’s analyze details from the perspective of influencing those around us. Below are two points about being detail-oriented which help influence those around us day-to-day.
Tendency to Be Liked
Details govern much of the successful relationships you’re in. The more you get to know a person, the more detailed your mapping of their interests, dislikes, and tendencies will be. We feel we know someone when these maps become detailed, and we grow to trust the information which we’ve gathered about them. We remember our loved ones’ birthdays, their allergies, favorite foods, and pet peeves.
When you meet a new person in life, race towards the details. If you’re going to spend the time meeting somebody, you might as well do it right. Map their interests out, take note of important dates, and remember what excites them. This will serve to not only make you get to know them faster, but will influence their liking towards you.
Being focused on the details will show in everyday interaction. You’ll go to lunch with people to places they enjoy, you’ll watch movies they are interested in, and you’ll have conversations which serve to intrigue them. Being detail-oriented is not just about reciting facts, but implementing them in your behavior towards people as a whole.
The good news is that you just need to focus on being detailed in your approach towards people. The rest will sort itself out. There is always something to discover, and aspects we can delve deeper into. Always ask yourself what’s next to focus on, and how granular you can go. Diving into details is not a waste of time, but rather a process of improvement. The more you do it the better at doing it you’ll become. It will be a conscious effort on your part until it becomes just something that you do.
Capacity to Hurt
Let’s now talk about the yin to the yang above. You’ll get into altercations during your interactions with others. We do our best in remaining logical during disagreements, but there would be no altercations if all humans operated by the same logic. Some will be emotionally driven, and some will be driven by shear incompetence. When you’re placed in a position to defend yourself in life, the details will pull you out of that position. Whether it is an argument, trouble at work, or a fist-fight on the street. Whoever arrives at the right details first has a higher chance of winning.
When you’re placed in a vulnerable position, practice remaining calm and being guided by the details. Focusing on the details of any certain situation forces us to see clearly amidst the blinding forces of anxiety. It serves to calm us in the face of seemingly unbeatable competition, and it serves to encourage those around us to follow our lead.
The detail you focus on don’t always need to be surrounding the topic of conversation.
For example, the act of noticing a person’s shoes scuffed up, their collar being unsymmetrical, and plaque on their teeth will serve to calm you should this person antagonize in any way. You’ll know this person has ignored the details that you noticed, and is thereby likely to ignore the details of any argument they find themselves a part of.
Starting at details which do not pertain to the conversation we find ourselves in serves to jump-start our search for details which pertain to the topic at hand. You’ll move from a person’s shoes to a person’s biases, and from their biases to holes in the arguments they present. Following a breadcrumb approach warms us up on our path towards discovering details of increasing importance.
Being focused on the details will serve to give you reason to remain unemotional to the altercations you take part in. Whenever you’re in doubt of next steps, always granularize your view-point. Practice looking for the smallest holes in people’s thinking and the actions they commit. In order to win an altercation, you will need to pry open these small holes you find.
Much like when the details make people like you, your first attempts at being detailed will be conscious. You’ll soon get better, and will develop a knack to seek out details without conscious effort. Race towards the details, as the ones you get there first will be better armed to hurt if needed. Keep asking why and how, and limit labeling anything as truth until an overwhelming level of detail points its way.