Whenever I talk to my non-Spanish speaking friends about the importance of using accents in Spanish, I always use the same example: it is not the same to write “inglés” than to write “ingles”. The first one, with an accent, means “English” or “englishman”; the second one, without the accent, means “groin”. That tiny little detail when you write in Spanish makes a huge difference in the meaning of the word. And in cases like this one, it can keep you out of trouble. The Devil is in the detail, they say.
The same applies to your daily life, especially your work. Paying attention to details separates the amateur from the professional. I remember when I was starting out as a photographer that I would get really overwhelmed while shooting. I was trying to control all the technicalities of photography (apperture, speed, ISO, depth of field, composition, framing) while trying really hard to pay attention to my subject and their surroundings. It was just too much and of course I would leave so many things unattended that I would spend hours in post-processing trying to correct them. But with practice you get better at your craft and you automate the technicalities leaving you free to focus on the rest of the details.
Here are a few tips to help you pay better attention to details:
- Plan ahead: the more you plan in advance, the more you can concentrate on minor details during the execution of your project.
- Seek feedback: four eyes see more than two.
- Stop, check, continue: no matter how stressful and time challenging the project is, you will not go wrong if you stop for a second and check the progress and quality of your work.
- “We will fix this later”: wrong! Try to get everything as perfect as possible from the beginning. There will always be things that need some tweaking afterwards but the less the better.
- Zoom in / zoom out: as you work on your project, take a look at your progress by looking at your results from far and also from very close. Sometimes things look good from a distance but once you zoom in it’s a completely different story.
These are just a few things to keep in mind to help you pay more attention to details. Do you have any tips or ideas of your own? Share them with us in the comments field below!
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