It’s the little things that matter the most because our life is made up of the accumulation of them. The big things happen maybe once or twice over a given year, if that. The little things make up the rest of the year. It’s the accumulation of these little things that matter the most in our lives.
Think about your life right now. When’s the last time a big thing happened to you? Maybe it’s when you got into college or maybe it’s when you got a dream job offer. It could even be that you got a promotion. Whatever the case is, do you really feel excited by it anymore?
If it happened in the past month or so, maybe. However, if it happened over 6 months+ ago, you probably hardly ever think about that moment. It doesn’t feel anything to you. However, you remember the little things that happened to you yesterday.
It could be that you were stuck in traffic for two whole hours or it could be that you got a love text from your loved ones. That has an impact towards you. The effects linger in your mind and it cements in your memory. It’s the little things that matter the most in life. Whether it’s for maintaining relationships.
Or whether it’s for getting a promotion, or whether it’s getting a girl to fall in love with you. They’re not going to fall in love because you remembered their birthday. They’re going to fall in love because you do the accumulation of little things for them. That’s what people remember.
What Does the Little Things Matter Mean?
When people say it’s the little things that matter, they mean that a small and seemingly inconsequential things matter more than the big grandiose gestures. Whether it’s someone giving you a little thing or you giving a little thing to others. It may seem inconsequential at the moment but it means the world to them.
Just the other day, a friend gave me a plant to spruce up my apartment because I wasn’t feeling the best. I don’t really want or need a plant but the thought meant a lot more to me than the plant itself. Yes, I have to upkeep it by watering it every day. However, it’s the little thing that mattered to me.
It’s the thought she put into it that made me happy. People don’t remember the big things as much. People remember the small and little things much more. It’s not just one off little things that’s going to make the difference. It’s the accumulation of little things that makes all the difference in the world.
You don’t get a promotion at work because you did one thing really well that one day. It’s the accumulation of those wins that make up the difference between the ones who get ahead and the ones who don’t. Do you make your boss happy on a consistent basis? Do your teammates like you? It matters.
Even on things like building relationships and helping your wife or kids out. They don’t care that you bought them a car one day. They care that you shower them with love and affirmation throughout decades at a time. The small things don’t make a difference on any given day. Until it makes a massive difference down the road.
Why It’s the Little Things that Matter the Most
One reason why it’s the little things that matter the most is when you can SMASH that social share button and post to your favorite social media! Your friends could really benefit from this article in building relationships, getting ahead, and the like. Please do a little thing like that for me, it means the world to me.
So with that said let’s go over the concrete reasons!
1) The Little Things Add Up
It’s better to win 5 $500 prizes than it is to get a lump sum of $1,000. When you’re applying for scholarships, it’s one thing to win one $10,000 scholarship. However, if you win 25 $1,000 scholarships that has less competition, then you are better off.
It’s the little things that matter the most in life. It’s what counts. They add up to much bigger things down the road. It’s the consistency that matters the most in life. It’s what makes the most impact. You don’t get rich by investing $1,000 one day. You get rich by investing $100 over months, years, and decades at a time.
Investing $100 per month doesn’t make a difference. Until it does one day. One day you wake up and realize what all that effort was for. That’s why the little things matter because they add up to huge and enormous amounts by the end of it all. This doesn’t mean ignore the big wins. But it does mean don’t discount the little wins.
2) Dopamine Rush Fades Over Time
Maybe your parents gifted you $10,000 after you graduated high school. Or maybe they bought you a brand new car right after graduation. Whatever it was, this dopamine rush fades over time. You get high and get excited for that one day, week, or month that you got it for.
However, afterwards, that dopamine rush fades. Your brain is going to be looking for a new high to feast its dopamine receptors with. The little things keep your dopamine rush on a baseline level. A company gave me the best job offer I’ve ever seen in my life.
I felt like the king of the hill. However, after a couple of months, that dopamine rush faded and it’s back to normality. It’s the little things that matter the most in life because the big things fade easily over time. After time passes, it just feels like another day with nothing special that’s happened.
3) It’s the Little Things that Matter the Most Because Life is a Marathon
Your life, on a holistic level, is going to have a few moments that define your life. It could be getting a new job, getting into a good college, getting married, whatever it is. However, the vast majority of your life is going to be doing mundane consistent tasks that make up everything else.
It’s the little things that matter because in a marathon, you don’t finish the race by having the fastest record time no human has ever achieved. You finish the race by taking consistent jogging steps over a long period of time that gets you over the finish line.
You’re not sprinting to the finish line, you’re jogging and going at a steady pace. Slow, steady, and consistent pace is going to win over the hare who tries to be as fast as possible. Just look at the video below.
Look at your life on a holistic level. In big picture terms, the holistic actions are what’s going to make the difference.
4) Little Things are Accumulative
The accumulation of little things is what matters more than anything else. Too many people think investing $100 per month doesn’t make a difference. Don’t be the person who thinks that all of their entire life then wakes up full of regrets. The little things add up to huge amounts by the end.
It’s the power of compound interest. Did you know that 99% of Warren Buffett’s wealth was made after his 50th birthday? It’s the last half of the game that matters more than the first half of the game. Results take up a ridiculous amount of time in order for them to materialize.
It’s the little things that matter. It doesn’t make any meaningful difference today, tomorrow, or even a year from now. However, in a decade or two from now, it makes a HUGE and a great impact. That’s when the real fun starts to happen and that’s when you get to experience and see the fruits of your labor.
5) Little Things are More Meaningful
It’s more thoughtful. No one really cares about a novel email that was written from the comforts of someone’s home. However, when people write you a handwritten note, then you care about it. They took time out of their busy schedule to write you an entire handwritten note.
Even if it took less time than the novel email, it makes it mean more because it’s more thoughtful. It’s not just writing a handwritten note. It’s simple things like giving someone else a bottle of water because they said they were thirsty. Leaving chocolates on the bed just because you like them.
It’s things like this that makes it much more meaningful than any of the other gifts that you can come up with. This goes beyond money. This goes to time and attention, something that’s even more precious than money itself. It’s the little things that matter because there’s more thought and meaning behind them.
6) Overnight Accomplishments Doesn’t Exist
Accomplishments do not mean getting rich. Accomplishments mean more than that. It can mean in bonding more with your family, getting rich, or building a good relationship base of friends who you trust and can count on. That level of achievement and accomplishment doesn’t happen overnight. It happens over time.
You become an overnight success after putting in the effort for a solid 10 years. Then and only then do you become an overnight success. Too many people see the results and accomplishments of others and think that it happened in a couple of days or weeks of training and effort. Not even close.
It took MrBeast four long years before he became a monumental success. Before he had that one video that went viral so that everyone else could see how awesome he was. He gained an enormous amount of influence but it took consistent effort over years and years. He almost decided to quit, too.
It’s the little things that matters the most in life like showing up every day and keep putting in the consistent effort.
It’s the Little Things that Matter the Most: Examples
So then, now, what are the little things that you can do today that’ll make the difference in your life? Here they are!
1) Smiling
When I used to work in a call center asking university alumni to donate, we used to have a saying. “Smile while you dial”. It’s rhyming, it’s catchy. However, most important of all, it makes sense. We don’t know it but it makes a difference when you say something while you’re smiling and when you say something while not.
One sounds much more pleasant to the other person, subconsciously or consciously. It’s not something we can control either. If we genuinely smile while talking, then the cheerfulness shows up without us meaning to. People take note, if you’re a positive person, people want to be around you.
It’s these little things that matter. You become more charismatic. It’s the little things that count the most, like this. When you’re interviewing and you’re just talking without any expressions or emotions, then interviewers are going to be turned off. The little things like smiling matter.
2) Doing Things Without Being Asked
It’s the little things like getting your significant other a water bottle because they said they were thirsty. Or getting them hand sanitizer when the coronavirus pandemic first started because you care about their health. It’s the little things that matter like doing things without being asked.
it makes them feel like you’re thinking about their needs even before they even thought about them. That’s what makes the difference. Do you wait until your boss gives you work or do you proactively take steps to ask if you can do anything else for your boss?
When you do things without being asked and actually anticipate the other person’s needs, that’s when it makes a big difference. Obviously, this isn’t sustainable because you literally can’t read minds. However, it’s these little inconsequential things that makes a huge difference.
3) Showing Up on Time
Too many people don’t show up on time. They think that if they’re just a few minutes late, everything is OK. No, that’s not right. Showing up on time matters more than you know. People remember even when you’re just a few minutes late. It makes a bad impression and it starts the meeting off on the wrong foot.
It’s the little things that matter. Showing up on time really doesn’t take any bit of skill. All you have to do is be mindful of how long it’ll take to get there. Then actually showing up to that place. Once, a company and I were scheduled to have a phone call to interview.
She didn’t show up on time. She didn’t even warn me or anything of the kind. I politely rejected to even interview further. When you realize just how disrespectful someone is being of your time by not showing up on time, then you know how it feels to be on the other end of it. It’s a gesture that makes a huge difference.
4) Dressing Well
Dressing well does NOT mean wearing a suit every time you go outside. It means you are dressing for the occasion and putting some thought into how you should be presenting yourself. Whether we like it or not, people respond to how you’re dressed. If you dress like a slob all the time, you won’t get to the top level executives.
None of the executives at my company wear a suit all the time. However, they do dress presentably. I generally do not care how I’m perceived at to the outside world through clothes. I go to the grocery store on 2pm on a Saturday wearing pajamas. However, I generally care of how I present myself in the business world.
I’m not walking into a negotiation wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I’m not going to be taken seriously. Dressing well for the occasion makes a difference in your life. It’s the little things that count and dressing well doesn’t take up any amount of skill, just a little bit of effort.
It’s the Little Things that Matter the Most
These little things don’t make a difference in any one off day. However, they make a difference over your entire life. People don’t care if you smile just that one day but if you remain grumpy for the rest of the year, then you might as not have smiled that one day at all. It’s the accumulation and the consistent actions that make a difference.
You don’t get fat because you ate McDonald’s that one day. You get fat if you continue to overeat McDonald’s on a consistent basis over a long enough period of time. It’s the little things that matter the most. That one day is when you’ll realize when your effort was all worth it.
Throughout the process across time, the first third of the game is when you’ll feel happy you’re putting in the effort. The middle third is when you question why you’re putting in so much effort And the last third is when you reap the rewards. Most people quit in the middle third because they question everything.
Trust the process. Building relationships take a lot of time and effort. Building wealth takes a lot of time and effort. It’s the little things that matter in garnering support, bettering yourself, and having a better quality of life as you go on. It doesn’t make a difference until it does, one day.
Don’t be the person who is too proud to put in the effort every single day. Be the person who puts in the effort and watch you get way more ahead than the proud people who refused to put in any bit of effort. Everything in life requires effort. Are you willing to put in the work? It’s the little things that matter the most.
Why It’s the Little Things that Matter the Most: Shortlist
- The little things add up
- Dopamine rush fades over time
- It’s the little things that matter the most because life is a marathon
- Little things are accumulative
- Little things are more meaningful
- Overnight accomplishments don’t exist
