ATTENTION 101

We had a retreat a long while back tagged 'Ignite The Passion'. It featured presentations from the bestselling book The Starbucks Experience. A lot was said throughout the 3 day retreat but of all the things I learnt two words will stick with me and always ring true within me – EVERYTHING MATTERS.


As individuals we often take for granted the little things in life and cover our inconsistencies with “it doesn’t matter” or “no one will notice”. The truth is everything DOES matter and it’s our inconsistencies in the little things that cumulate to being a BIG THING.

Everything matters, be it in our interactions - both verbal and non-verbal-, execution of our respective duties or in whatever we find ourselves doing. If time can be taken each day to reevaluate what we did for that day, – see the little mistakes that could have or might already have killed our reputations, - we would be more attentive to details.

Attention to detail is crucial / key. It does not happen by default but by design. What do I mean? Only this, being attentive is not a gift and it does not just happen but it comes by painstaking effort. It is a continuous journey in becoming better people oriented and expert service delivery professionals. A little attention never hurt anyone. So why do we find it hard to spare an extra glance or a little pause before we take action? I know I sometimes fall victim to the spirit of 'everything instant' and the pull of speed but we need to allow ourselves that extra second or minute to do a double check and caution ourselves cos Everything Does Matter.

I will end with this quote and hope that I have succeeded in communicating the message behind … EVERYTHING MATTERS.

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort.
John Ruskin”