Kia ora,

Welcome to week three of my working smarter not harder series.

It’s been helpful for me to reflect on how I can work smarter not harder, so I hope you have too!

I’d love to hear your feedback on how I can make this newsletter better. Simply hit reply to send your thoughts.

Estimated Read time: 5 minutes 10 seconds

The Deep Dive: Could Attention to Detail be Holding You Back?

Ever heard the saying "how you do one thing is how you do all things". 💭

On one level, I really like it.

When I don't feel like making my bed in the morning, packing away the weights at the gym, or bringing a reusable cup to buy a takeaway matcha, this saying is what keeps me in line with my values.

But the flip-side is an unhelpful level of perfectionism. ⚖️

It's simply unrealistic and, quite frankly, inefficient to apply the same level of dedication, quality and commitment to every task that comes our way.

At school we're rewarded for 'excellence' across the board: tidy handwriting, colour coordination, neat lines, regardless of the task.

We learn attention to detail and pride in presentation, but we don’t learn how to differentiate between when painstaking attention to detail is required, and when a few bullet points on a piece of paper would have done the trick.

The problem with this lack of differentiation is that it keeps us majoring on minors: pouring energy and focus into something that doesn't warrant it, or at least doesn't warrant it yet.

Here are mistakes I’ve made majoring on minors:

1. Debating a nitty gritty detail on minor tasks: i.e. a 25-minute debate over which exact image of a coffee to use in a design for social media. Naturally if this design was going to be used in a large multi-media marketing campaign, more consideration would be required, but this level of discussion was unnecessary for such a small output. For low-value outputs, as long as something meets an agreed level of acceptable (i.e. on brand/technically correct), make a decision (even if it’s not the one you would have chosen) and keep moving forwards.

2. Focussing so much on ‘going above and beyond’ that you forget what is actually of value. Recently I was asked for ideas for a client promo video. I got so carried away with my idea that I ended up writing a whole script complete with stage directions. While the script was great, the key stakeholder didn't feel they aligned with the message, so now I need to go back to the drawing board. I overlooked that the initial value the stakeholders wanted from me was an idea they felt comfortable with, not a whole-ass script. Sigh, it was a good script though.

3. Fixating on something not being good enough and never launching. When you major on too many minors, you stop yourself from ever reaching the start line. The best thing we did with Brandsitters was just to launch. We had no website for the first 6 months of being in business (bold call for a digital marketing agency), and our first logo was…interesting. But we launched anyway, and improved the branding over time. 🚀

Don’t get me wrong, attention to detail IS important.

But the secret to working smarter not harder is knowing when the detail moves the needle, and when it's more important to just launch & learn.

In his book, Steven Bartlett talks about obsessing over the 1%, the tiny details that others ignore.

To grow his YouTube channel, Steven and his team reportedly test dozens of thumbnails to find the best one to increase views. He says this has been the key to the explosive growth of his channel. 📈

However, it's important to note that Steven isn't talking about going from 0 to 1, he's talking about going from 100 to 200.

He also has a huge team and massive budget which makes that level of testing possible.

But in reality, to get projects off the ground, to get stakeholders on board, or even just to get out of our own way; we need to take a 'done is better than perfect' approach. It's far better to take imperfect action and then refine over time. ✨

So how do you know if you're majoring on the right thing?

The key is to understand where the true value lies in your output.💡

For example, most doctors have messy handwriting.

Would you like your doctor more if they printed everything neatly? Potentially, but chances are you value quality care, kind bedside manner, accurate diagnosis, and clean facilities a whole lot more.

Understanding why you’re doing what you’re doing, who you’re doing it for, and the real value they derive from it will help you focus on what’s really important.

Action of the Week:

Are you majoring on minors?

If you feel like you frequently:

• Are having long debates about tiny details

• Pride yourself on going 'above and beyond', even if at the cost of efficiency

• Let the details stop you from reaching the start line of a project/idea etc.

There's a chance you might be majoring on minors.

Here's what to ask yourself next time you find yourself caught in analysis paralysis:

1. How high stakes is this output? If low stakes, what is the minimum viable product version?

2. Where is the value in this deliverable? Does it need to be flawlessly presented? Or am I simply being asked to provide my two cents? Consider where the real value is for the person/s receiving your deliverable.

3. Does this idea or output need to be fully formed yet? Especially when it comes to collaboration, it's more helpful to come to a meeting with a range of initial thoughts to gather feedback, rather than fully fledged solutions. This is because people like to feel part of the journey, so if an idea comes 'too complete', you struggle to get buy-in AND waste your time.

Inspo & Recommendations:

LinkedIn post: “How to present to a board.” by Stephanie Quatrill

Podcast ep: How to reset your routine to be ‘High Maintenance to be Low Maintenance’ by Working Hard, Hardly Working

Learning: Kurzgesagt - the coolest educational YouTube channel - they cover science to politics and more. Great for improving your general knowledge!

Tech: Calendly I don’t currently have an account for this myself, but I use this frequently as a client and the user experience is so good.

Love from your business-minded friend,

Elise