View Full Version : Attention to Detail or Big Picture?
catherine
8-23-21, 10:12am
One of my grandsons, age 4, visited us a couple of weeks ago. One thing I have noticed about him is his eagle eyes. He can identify an ant crawling in the grass. He will alert me to the tiniest spider in the tiniest corner. And then he came into my room to sleep on my bed. I had made sure my bedroom was spotless in advance of their coming, but there were a couple of pills on the comforter. Honestly microscopic black pills on a white comforter. He said, "Get rid of the crappy stuff. I hate crappy stuff." If DH were anything like him, our marriage wouldn't have lasted a week. I tend to selectively ignore little details but am good at seeing the overall view--the Big Picture. I'm pretty good at synthesizing information for that reason, but I'm horrible at addressing crumbs on the floor.
So, are you a Big Picture person or an Attention to Detail person? How has that affected your life and your relationships?
I am a detail person and husband is a big picture person so we work well together. If my grandkid ever spoke to me like that, I'd tell him to leave the room because of his "crappy" attitude and I don't like crappy stuff either. :laff:
iris lilies
8-23-21, 10:26am
But that’s kids, that ability to see close up the tiny world in front of them. We outgrow that as we embrace a bigger world and have to process all the tiny things in it to get a big picture.
I guess I’m more of a big picture person than a detail person. When it comes to floral design, I always have faults with the mechanics. I’m in such a hurry to get the Design finished, to create the vision, but I’m less concerned about the details going into it.
I am a detail person, and my DS extremely so. The majoring in minors can be annoying. I am sure people here haven't appreciated when they get on my case and I respond by pointing out their grammatical or spelling errors. It does annoy me to no end when people (especially a couple who claim to be teachers) can't write in standard English. These errors are different from speech to text scrambling what you say, for which I don't hold the speaker responsible, I blame the technology.
iris lilies
8-23-21, 10:35am
I am a detail person, and my DS extremely so. The majoring in minors can be annoying. I am sure people here haven't appreciated when they get on my case and I respond by pointing out their grammatical or spelling errors. It does annoy me to no end when people (especially a couple who claim to be teachers) can't write in standard English. These errors are different from speech to text scrambling what you say, for which I don't hold the speaker responsible, I blame the technology.
The speaker needs to proof their posts.
It’s the same level of sloppiness. Just saying. As someone who knows of what she speaks.
The speaker needs to proof their posts.
It’s the same level of sloppiness. Just saying. As someone who knows of what she speaks.
I see one as sloppiness and one as lack of knowledge. If you don't claim to be knowledgeable, no big deal. But if you say you are a teacher I hold you to a higher standard.
But if you say you are a teacher I hold you to a higher standard.
So teachers are not allowed to make typos on a casual, neighborhood-style forum, unrelated to their paid profession? They have to be perfect in all cases, in all circumstances in order to pass your muster?
I can see both the big picture and detail as well. I will plan a flowerbed shape and size as an example. Then research the conditions that will impact it - light, slope, moisture, winds in different seasons and then the variety of plants and infrastructure that would thrive. I am doing this with one triangular bed that is a swale. I placed flagstones, some plants and some mixed size rocks and wood mulch.
With the heavy recent rains, the wood mulch washed away from one end to the other. Plants are happy so Plan B is removal of the wood mulch and arranging rocks as mulch instead with hired help.
I switch from big picture to detail as a pattern in my life, I think. What do I wish/want, how can it be done, what will I need, when and can I do it or have someone else do it?
Having said that, in my sewing efforts, detail drives me nuts so I stick to easy projects like placemats with few details. Knitting is so much easier.
As for typos online, I am grateful for others sharing their views as I learn so much and enjoy their contributions. I recognize that just as I forgive myself for not being perfect, so will I ignore, without any judgement, others' typos for being less than perfect hoping they will forgive mine.
In response to Catherine's post, I'm more of a big picture person and a sloppy executioner at times. I'm so in my head that I don't pay attention to what I'm doing.
As far as the comforter with pills, that would be a sensory issue for me. I'm particularly aware when something touches my skin. So clothing labels, crumbs in the bed, sticky hands all annoy me to no end.
So teachers are not allowed to make typos on a casual, neighborhood-style forum, unrelated to their paid profession? They have to be perfect in all cases, in all circumstances in order to pass your muster?
A typo is something like teh instead of the.
Picking an entirely incorrect word that does not make sense grammatically is another matter.
When a waiter spelled coronavirus incorrectly it didn't bother me, but if I were at his restaurant and he spilled soup all over me I would judge him incompetent. I do expect if someone claims to be in a certain profession they should have a level of knowledge and competence in it.
I see one as sloppiness and one as lack of knowledge. But if you say you are a teacher I hold you to a higher standard.
By what or whose authority were you appointed to have a hold on anyone at any time to a higher standard? :laff::laff: :laff: That is just plain silly talk to say such nonsense suggesting that you have a hold on anyone.
Teacher Terry
8-23-21, 11:45am
I am a detail person. Yppej is talking about me. Because I spent the last 8 years teaching one online college class I should be perfect in all my casual fun online writing. Horrors I might lose the right to use TT as my forum name:)). I chalk it up to her own issues for which I have much empathy. I was caught in a similar web years ago as was a good friend of mine by our drug addicted sons. She escaped and used tough love years before me and neither of our sons have been successful long term.
However, on the East coast the PACT program houses and provides community services and support for people with MI. Sadly no one can make her son do anything but I would encourage him to get on a waiting list for housing there. He would make friends and be around people with similar issues as well as having professional support.
ApatheticNoMore
8-23-21, 11:49am
I'm a big picture person philosophically, but get paid to focus on details. I mean I get paid to focus on code and double check data, but a misspelling in an email is not anything anyone cares about. Yes I can do documentation, but what's put together in a minute to communicate something is really, does it communicate it or not. And sometimes it doesn't even so I have to clarify :)
I would not care about the pills either, but kids are just kids. I mean I don't think you can read behavior of a child into an detail/big picture orientation, nor do I think anyone should.
My comments refer to multiple people claiming to be teachers, not just one.
I notice these things at work too and have offered to proofread documents before others send them out.
Teacher Terry
8-23-21, 1:50pm
I have a friend with a master’s in English and she put her degree to work being hired by a university and proofreading for professors as one of her job duties. Great job for you Yppej and would utilize your education and skills.
I'm a hybrid. I was raised by a mother who could spot a tiny flaw at 100 paces, and I enjoyed editing (coincidentally, college-level on-line course work) but I'm generally a big picture person. My favorite part of quilting was always the design concept and naming the finished product.
My editing job took place at Bellevue College, and one of my office mates--a multiply-degreed educator--asked me to edit one of her reports. I finally handed it back to her undone because it was so heavily larded with impenetrable edu-jargon it was unreadable. I suspect it would have taken an ed school grad to tackle it properly.
frugal-one
8-23-21, 5:34pm
By what or whose authority were you appointed to have a hold on anyone at any time to a higher standard? :laff::laff: :laff: That is just plain silly talk to say such nonsense suggesting that you have a hold on anyone.
narcissist....
happystuff
8-23-21, 6:23pm
I am a detail person. Yppej is talking about me. Because I spent the last 8 years teaching one online college class I should be perfect in all my casual fun online writing. Horrors I might lose the right to use TT as my forum name:)). I chalk it up to her own issues for which I have much empathy. I was caught in a similar web years ago as was a good friend of mine by our drug addicted sons. She escaped and used tough love years before me and neither of our sons have been successful long term.
However, on the East coast the PACT program houses and provides community services and support for people with MI. Sadly no one can make her son do anything but I would encourage him to get on a waiting list for housing there. He would make friends and be around people with similar issues as well as having professional support.
I have a friend with a master’s in English and she put her degree to work being hired by a university and proofreading for professors as one of her job duties. Great job for you Yppej and would utilize your education and skills.
And these responses - and other similar responses - show not only what a good person you are but what a good teacher you are! Such kindness, consideration, and empathy you continue to put into practice for others to see and, hopefully, learn from. Thank you!
narcissist....
You just can't resist reading and responding to my posts. It's less than 24 hours since you said you'd ignore me. Not being narcissistic I didn't think I was that fascinating but maybe I am.
I am definitely of the opinion that kids come hard-wired. It sounds like your grandson may have sensory processing issues, or may grow up to the next Andy Warhol or David Hockney. Some children are born with a great sense of design. My 4-year old granddaughter is similarly wired, and notices every tiny detail. She is always complimenting me on my rugs, my china pattern, the realtor's earrings; yesterday it was the china pattern, an how odd it was that one of the zinnias was green (I told her about Envy zinnias and said it was my favorite, too.) On the other hand, she rejected every food I cooked and got this upset, panicky look on her face when asked to eat turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes, all of which were pretty standard fare. But she was happy to eat lettuce straight out the garden.
I know with both my granddaughters, their parents work on different things, as they are so different, and one has the potential to steam roller people (she wrote out an agenda for her first sleep-over, with boxes to check for things like Sleep and Dance Party) and the other is the one making faces when she eats her grandmother's cooking.
I honestly don't know which I am--I used to be big picture, then I had kids and starting paying attention to detail fast. Now, not sure.
I'm not complaining about GS4 being so hypersensitive to detail. I think it's funny, and so indicative of how children are different. My kids once asked me, "Who [of the 4 of them] are you the most surprised at how they turned out?" and my answer was--no surprises.
The other interesting thing GS said was about the tartan wool throw I had folded at the bottom of the bed. He didn't like that either, because it was too "scratchy." I've always said about myself that I'd NEVER be mistaken for the Princess and the Pea. The older I get the more I realize I'm not a creature comfort kind of person. I am just the opposite of my grandson in that regard, which is perfectly fine. It makes the world go 'round.
Simplemind
8-23-21, 8:26pm
I am a detail person and pick up patterns in people, places, things. Just about everything. I could identify the handwriting of everybody in my organization after I had seen it once. It always drove my husband nuts that we could be in a restaurant and I could follow the conversations of all the tables simultaneously. I once told him that a couple in the distance in the park were going to break up. Next thing we knew she stood up, slapped the guy and walked off. DH says... How in the hell do you do that??? I have an eagles eye and a dogs hearing. I used to be great with number sequences but I don't have need of it much anymore. That said I'm also a global thinker as well. I often know if something will or will not work based on all the smaller details I've already sucked up. It was a great tool when it came to matching people with tasks at work.
ToomuchStuff
8-23-21, 11:52pm
Both a bit. There are times you have to focus on the details and get things done in certain ways, etc. to get to your goal (the big picture). Then there are times you show the big picture and empower those to work on the details to get there. One of the differences is consistency. The first one is when you need it to get to where you know you should be, and the second is when your trying to achieve a goal, typically that you have not done yet.
rosarugosa
8-24-21, 6:57am
Detail.
3916
RR, is that part of Gothic humour?
gimmethesimplelife
8-24-21, 1:07pm
I do both. At work I am very much attention to detail as the job requires it and I have no problem laser focusing on whatever comes up at work. In my personal life, though, I am very much a big picture person. This division seems to work for me. SO is definitely an attention to detail person period so things balance out at home with my taking a big picture stance. Rob
rosarugosa
8-24-21, 3:43pm
RR, is that part of Gothic humour?
I guess you could call it that. I do think there is more than a grain of truth there, and I did find it amusing.
happystuff
8-24-21, 6:36pm
I've been thinking about this and I'm really not sure. Some things I get every detailed about/notice, but other things - no. So I guess my answer is - it depends.
ApatheticNoMore
8-30-21, 8:55pm
I'm reminded to what extent I really am detailed, or I'm a grinder, I will pursue boring and tedious to the ends of the earth at least if I get paid but sometimes even if I don't, and the numbers will all tie up. Can everyone say that? No way. And exhaust myself in it. And then far too exhausted to pontificate about the forest, but the exact number of trees is ....
I hear the real money is in talking about the forest.
(yes I had a bad day at work)
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