Little Things

“Big things have small beginnings”

Little things add up to big ones over time.

Often “boil the ocean” projects that attempt to make huge course corrections, cultural changes, or technology shifts in an organization (or life, for that matter). But I think the biggest lesson that I’ve taken from my own experiences is that it’s really about the little things that are done consistently over and over that add up to major long term impact.

While I try to steer away from “work specific” topics, the best example I’ve seen of this what I learned from reading a bunch about Bill Bowerman. He calculated that for every ounce (28 grams) of weight that he could shave off from a shoe added up to over 55 pounds (25kgs) over the course of running a single mile (1.6 km).

One ounce ads up to 55 pounds. Think about it.

I know that “little things” aren’t what people like to talk about, it’s not “sexy”, but focus on them — in the end, you’ll look back in years and be in awe of where you’ve come from and where you are now.