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Details, details, details.
Some people are not wired to see or care about details. They think in wholes, not in parts. They only see the big picture, the finished project, and they go from capital A to capital Z and zoom right past all the small letters in-between.
I love these people. I’m married to one. Hi Darin. And boy can these people get A LOT of projects done in a day. But wait, pump the breaks, slow down, what about the details? Do they matter?
Yes!
If you are a person who doesn’t like details, then recruit individuals who do.
The Phrase
We all say it, “the Devil is in the details,” but do you believe it? The famous expression was originated in the 1800s. According to Writing Explained, the actual phrase is God is in the details.
So, which one is it?
The Devil?
God?
Or, here’s a new idea from Oprah.
Love?
Oprah gave it a good effort changing the phrase from “the Devil is in the details” to “love is in the details.”
Oprah invested years and money working with architects to build a school in Johannesburg, South Africa for girls in the early 2000, Oprah stated details mattered. There is evidence that Oprah was involved in every detail of the school, even down to the doorknobs the African campus would use. Oprah claimed it was love for the African girls that motivated her to care about the minutia of the school. You can read all about it here.
The original phrase is believed to have been, God is in the details. If that is true, then Oprah saying “love” is in the details, isn’t that far off.
Oprah may be onto something, changing the word from Devil to love. If you want to believe what John said in his book in the Bible, 1st John, he said, “God is love.”
The Devil
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The Devil in this context is referring to “when you do not concentrate on the details of something you may run into are unexpected problems,” according to The Idioms website.
Many people refer to this phrase when they discuss contracts. When I was on the hit show, CBS Big Brother season 8 the producers gave me a contract the size of a novella. They told me I could take it to my lawyer if it made me feel more comfortable.
Details, details, details! Blah!
I didn’t want to pay attention to details. I didn’t even want to know about them. I just wanted to be on the show! However, the Devil is in the details! Perhaps, I should have hired a lawyer to read the contract for the small details before I went on the show. Looking back would the details have made a difference? No! But that’s another article that you can read (HERE).
Rabbit hole: Come to find out there was a devil on the Big Brother show with me. His name is Evel Dick (the winner) and he made my experience in the house horrible. It’s okay, we’ve talked since the show, and all is good.
Back to my point, some people often believe that God is too busy to care about the details. God has enough issues to worry about like the Russia-Ukraine war, America’s economy, or the Trump Surge. They also believe that God doesn’t care about them, when they are only one in an almost 8 billion people in this world.
But, if God cares about knowing how many hairs is on a person’s head, then he cares about the details.
If God cares, then I should care?
Right? Right.
Team Building
Like I mentioned earlier, my husband gets more projects accomplished in a day than most do in a week. That is why he is successful. Looking only at the big picture is a great strategy, but to be able to work like this, skipping the details, he needs someone in his life to handle the small particulars.
Whether it’s me, an employee, or a mom, someone has to focus on the specifics of a task. Sadly, it can be difficult to find a faithful man or woman to help with the details, as details usually aren’t the glamorous task or have much reward. Copy Editors come to mind, but boy oh boy, we need them!
It’s called team building.
And to keep a team, the leader needs to
- trust the people who come alongside them that takes care of the details
- delegate properly
- encourage unity amongst the team
- recognize individual’s giftings and assign tasks accordingly
I bet you’re involved in team building, too, whether it is through your job, family, education, or sports. Take writing for Medium as an example. There is a team behind all of us writers. There’s a team that hosts the website, a team of followers who clap, comment, and subscribe. A team of publications who have a team of editors that read our submitted stories. All of these things are details.
Conclusion
Details win. Being a person who understands the importance of details knows art, not science. It takes people who are capable of tapping into their creative mind to see the small touches and different elements on the canvas.
No matter how hard we try to ignore details, they are everywhere in our life. Whether you believe the details are from the Devil, God or love I hope you enjoyed reading about the background of the phrase.
Personally, I believe it’s God who is in the details. I don’t like to give any attention or credit to the Devil.
So, I don’t.
…
I’m best known for my appearance on the CBS Big Brother season 8 reality television show. At one time I owned and operated the Mrs. Oregon United States pageant. Since then, I have gone on to earn my BS in Psychology and own and operate a 5-bed residential mental health recovery center in Oregon.
You can read Part One HERE about my journey on CBS Big Brother, “My Tell ALL Secrets About Reality Shows They Don’t Want You to Know.”
Thank you! from the bottom of my Image may be NSFW.
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for reading my article.
Kail Harbick
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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