Pay attention to details.

Details are those specific bits of important information that, if noticed, can make our lives easier.  These can include people or facts we come across daily in our lives.  In many cases, the details we need to discover provide critical evidence that leads us to sound decisions.  The challenge is knowing what to pay attention to and what to ignore.  We don’t know what we don’t know, and we don’t know what we don’t notice.  We’re also less likely to notice the details that may shed light on our ignorance when traveling in unfamiliar territory.  And to add one more level of complexity to the equation, there are details we should ignore to increase decision efficiency and prevent analysis paralysis.  Let’s figure out the differences.

Information overload

We live in a time where we’re inundated with information at every turn.  Computers, mobile devices, and just about every other object we use have a “smart” component attached.  These push information into our prefrontal cortex to evaluate and transfer to the mental dustbin or our short-term memory.  Depending on the outcome and quality of the data, we may continue to embed it into our long-term memory for future retrieval.  The process is fast and complex.  It has to be; according to a study at the University of San Diego, we process approximately 34 gigabytes of information daily.  That equates to 100,000 words either read or heard. We are essentially reading the entire “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” every day.  Knowing how and which critical pieces of information to focus on saves time and helps us make faster and better decisions.  Atul Gawande writes about this idea in “The Checklist Manifesto.”  We often have too many decisions and insufficient or incorrect information about what to do or what resources are needed[1].

Optimize for the important details

So how do we create an evaluation system to focus on details we deem more important than others and ignore the less important ones?  It starts with knowing our values, identities, and beliefs.  Once we understand what’s important to us, who we are, and how we think, the foundation is set to filter in and out the information that best serves us.  Part of this process involves subduing our egos.  Our conscious and subconscious thoughts are dedicated to sending us consistent evaluations of incoming information.  Recognizing this and maintaining an open mind before making value judgments allows us to take a deeper look at what’s happening.  We gain clarity on our understanding and take steps toward understanding the values, identities, and beliefs of others.  Key details emerge and help ingrain more profound knowledge.   

This process also filters out the important and unimportant details.  What we thought was a critical piece of information becomes more of a knee-jerk reaction to our misinterpretation.  A friend or family member forgetting an important date must mean they don’t respect or value us.  But when we step back and look for evidence, we find they were juggling multiple, more critical responsibilities, and the date slipped their mind.  Getting cut off in traffic may mean the other driver is a lunatic or forgot to check their blind spot before merging.  Focus on the evidence you know and suspend the urge to mindread.  You’ll soon find that you can discover what’s essential and what isn’t.

We must distinguish the vital from the inessential to avoid repeating the same destructive behaviors and making the same mistakes.  Lacking this skill also prevents us from attaining optimal results on complex interactions and record-setting goals. For example, during Charles Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic, he became minutely conscious of the details in his cockpit; the instruments, weld marks, and paint on the altimeter face[2].  He experienced what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi described as “flow.”  A highly focused mental state conducive to productivity.  Understanding what’s important becomes innate and effortless when in a flow state.  The key is figuring out each individual's roadmap to get there. 

Prioritize and focus

Another consideration is the time and energy spent focusing on the details when making decisions.  There isn’t an endless amount of time, and we make most decisions fast and in the moment.  Sometimes we can slow things down, reflect, and obtain additional specifics.  But it’s important to distinguish between these two separate decision-making operating systems.  Psychologist and economist Daniel Kahneman describes them this way.  The distinction lies between the automatic operations of System 1 and the controlled operations of System 2[3].  Since we spend most of our time in System 1, it’s to our benefit and progress to finely tune this intuitive structure.

When we have time to slow down and engage in more purposeful thinking, we must unburden ourselves from meaningless inputs that may cultivate rumination, which often leads to guilt or anxiety.  Focusing on the specifics of our thoughts without judgment allows us to gain clarity and insights we wouldn’t otherwise have.  We can also review past experiences or envision future ones from different perspectives. For example, try remembering something from your past but put yourself in another person’s shoes.  How would they have seen the same situations, and what details would be apparent to them?  This type of reflection is invaluable for building self-awareness and is only possible when we slow things down.

Ingraining the skill to focus on details requires confirming what we know while accepting that there are things we don’t.  The objective is to maintain an open mind and allow intuition to filter the essential parts.  Building this habit takes time, but doing so will save more by not repeating past mistakes. In addition, instilling patterns of behavior that place effort on the details of what we’re experiencing first, processing second, and acting third, sets us down a path for more thoughtful and sound decisions. 

[1] Gawande, Atul.  The Checklist Manifesto. New York, Picador, 2011.

[2] Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York, Harper Collins, 1990.

[3] Kahneman, Daniel.  Thinking Fast and Slow. New York, Farrar, 2011