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  • Writer's pictureTidy Content
    • 2 min read

On being the tiniest nail



Looking back when another year passes, it’s easy to downplay or even forget how much we achieved.


At work, we might be worn down from fighting the good fight and wrestling with organisational inertia: the daily tug-of-war over the same old things, feeling like a broken record, now too tired to focus on anything other than a much-needed rest.


Change, impact and transformation sound great, grandiloquent - yet often exhausting.


Be effective, efficient, proactive, confident, assertive, impactful, influential, inspiring, and motivational. Don't sweat the small stuff, and keep your eyes on the prize. Dream big and work hard to put a ding in the universe.


Yet maybe our greatest achievements are the seemingly small and unnoticed actions and interactions of our everyday lives.


The kindness we show, the patience we have, the little acts we do to make other people’s days just that little bit easier, smoother or more pleasant.


Perhaps in the new year, when we’re asked to compose our resolutions, sketch out ambitious plans, write up our personal objectives, KPIs and OKRs, we should think about all the little things that will help us get there.


A thoughtful word, a nod of encouragement, lending an ear, a shoulder, or a pair of hands.


Considering the small stuff rather than worrying about the big stuff.


Wishing with American poet Mary Oliver to "be the tiniest nail in the house of the universe, tiny but useful.”

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