DETAILS MATTER
Every season, exactly one week before the first official practice of the year, members of the UCLA men’s basketball team would gather for their only team meeting of the season. Coach John Wooden had built a dynasty at UCLA - they won 10 national championships in 12 years during his tenure - and the program was comprised of many of the best athletes and top players in all of college basketball. Team members walking into that meeting for the first time were probably surprised to find that Coach Wooden had called his team together...to talk about socks.
That team meeting every year covered only one topic and served only one purpose - for his players to learn how to properly put on their socks. It was a detail that most of them probably took for granted - one most of us probably take for granted every day - but a detail of utmost importance to Coach Wooden. He knew, from his experience working on the farm as a boy and from playing the game at a high level himself, that even the smallest wrinkle in a sock could cause a blister, and even the smallest blister could keep even his best players on the sideline. Most new players initially scoffed at the idea of this “sock seminar,” but over time it became symbolic for many of a much bigger and much more important conviction their coach possessed. It was the conviction that details matter.
That’s a conviction shared by winners in any area of life. Champions recognize that, as John Wooden said, “It’s the little things that are vital. Little things make big things happen.” It’s so true. In a world where the margin between victory and defeat is often razor thin, it’s the details that make the difference. Typically, though, for better or worse, that important reality is most clear in the aftermath of our pursuit. Those moments looking back either proudly (if we win) or painfully (if we lose) reveal just how important all those little things turned out to be.
In a world where the margin between victory and defeat is often razor thin, it’s the details that make the difference.
So an important first step in achieving whatever success it is you’re dreaming of today is recognizing now - before your big moments come - that the details matter. It means developing the foresight to make the little things worthy of your attention, even if and maybe especially because most others don’t see how critical they are. It means making some important choices that will help you look back on your performance with pride. Here are a few things to keep in mind…
Details require discipline. There’s an element of concentration and commitment required to make the details matter. Losers aren’t usually very strong in either of those areas - concentration or commitment. They lack the discipline it takes to really examine the little things, to study and to think and to pay the price that success requires. Champions, on the other hand, have set a higher standard for themselves. They are willing to put in the time and attention - even when it’s not comfortable or convenient - because they know it makes a difference.
Details require dedication. Practicing anything at any level takes persistence, but drilling down to the details and perfecting the little things by doing them over and over again takes a whole different level of toughness. While the loser’s effort is squelched by the mundanity of excellence, the champion has the fortitude it takes to fight the fatigue, the routine, and sometimes even the boredom that comes with really refining their craft.
Details require a decision. Ultimately, both our level of discipline and our level of dedication are choices we get to make. Actually, they’re choices we have to make. The author and speaker Jim Rohn famously said, “We all must suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” What he’s saying is so important for each of us to understand. First, there is no choosing whether or not suffering will be part of our experience. We will all suffer. Our choice comes in how exactly we’ll suffer. Will we do what champions do - suffer through the discipline it takes to make the little things count? Or will we do what losers do - dismiss the details, then have to painfully accept that we didn't give them their due?
Don’t allow yourself to be lured into the lie that the little things don’t matter. See the truth now, before it’s too late. Remember, it will be clear to you in the aftermath of the outcome. Champions will know it was their discipline and their dedication to the details - their decisions, ultimately, to make the little things matter - that made all the difference.
Those who fall short in that moment will likely be lamenting the opportunity they let slip away. Looking back, that razor thin margin between winning and losing will be abundantly clear, as will the many little things they could’ve addressed - but chose not to - that could’ve made all the difference. Those people will be living with the worst pain of all…the pain of regret.
I hope each of us can recognize, here in this moment of clarity, not just what it is that we want, but just as importantly, what it will take for us to get it. I hope we can see the importance of our choices, even the ones that seem small or insignificant, in determining our fate. And I hope when we stop and consider the consequences of not doing the little things, it becomes more and more clear that there are no little things. If we’re serious about winning, we need to make the details matter.