If you're not naturally "detail oriented", how to you train yourself to be?

Question

I find myself being unable to focus on details at work and home. Things like keeping a accurate checking account escape me...even if I'm not rushing. I make little errors at work (this is not an office job though, I work in the visual arts) and when I find my mistakes I am so angry at myself!! I dont' want to make mistakes especially at work, but with things that require attention to detail, I cannot focus enough. I write things down, color code them, etc. I still miss stuff. I am actually very smart/intelligent, but these things make me look idiotic. Some people are naturally good at this stuff. Has anyone found any tricks to train yourself to be this way?

Answer 1

If you are not detail oriented that means that your right brain is more dominant. This means that you tend to be more holistic, you see things more as whole than in details. This has nothing to do with intelligence but with which part of the brain you use more when working with specific problems. Being right brained means that you are probably more abstract in your thoughts and more artistic than others. You can help yourself by doing excercises that generate the left hemisphere of your brain. Try solving Sudoku puzzles for example.
Of course, the fact that you are not detail-oriented in itself may neccessarily mean that you are right-brained. I suggest you do a brain dominance test (or more similar tests to be sure) which will also help you stimulate the other side of your brain.
If interested, check out this website:http://similarminds.com/personality_tests.html and do the left brain right brain tests

Answer 2

I've found that most of the people I know that are very intelligent are not detail oriented either. You just need to practice being more observant. Go to the park full of people and write down all the little details of peoples clothes, their hair, the way they smile, the weather, the shape of the clouds, the cut of the grass. Just spend some time observing and after a while you will train yourself to look at things in a differant way. In the meantime, having someone look over your work before you complete it could help. Sometimes a fresh eye is all you need.

Answer 3

first off, the one thing to stop doing is getting mad at yourself for making small mistakes.. we all make them and they actually help us train ourselves to improve so next time we don't make the same mistake.. Instead of focusing your energy on getting angry, try to look at what you could have done different and not be so critical on yourself.
Secondly the thing that helped me get organized and very detail oriented was making a list of quick notes for the day.. Every morning when I would go to work, I would take 5 minutes to write a list on a small piece of paper, this would cover anything that i needed to get done during the day that was not part of the routine.. i would list it from most important to least important and I would make a long list, one that would be harder to accomplish in any given day.. short example follows..
get gas
grocery store (see list)
dry cleaner
wash dishes
do load of whites
Clean shower
Call shelly about saturday
The longer the list, the better your helping yourself to stay organized..Cross off the task when its done and move on to the next one.. If you have one or two things on the list at the end of your day, add them on to the next days list.. remember to prioritize..
The first list you make in the morning starts putting your mind in motion for "time management".. Most people are less detail oriented because they don't know how to manage their time.. You can use this "list" making tool for work purposes or home purposes, but its best to make it first thing in the morning when your mind is fresh.. Keep practicing and you won't need the list anymore..
Color coding things won't help train you to get organized. It will help you be able to find things quicker that is all..
Also, try reading the book "the one minute manager".. It may not apply to you in a management sense, but its a very small book, you can read it in less than a day and its all about Time Management! The best book on time management that I have read to date!

Answer 4

Sounds like you are what is called in the world of Personality Type an Intuitive person. In this theory, based on the Meyers-Briggs personality test, the second descriptor is one that describes how people gather information. Some are Sensors and some are iNtuitives. Sensors are generally more detail oriented and gather information about their world by taking it in through their senses: what they see, hear, feel, touch, etc. iNuitives are global thinkers and tend to be the idea people. Sensors see the trees, but can't see the forest and iNtuitives see the forest, but not the trees. If an iNtuitive and a Sensor were working together on, lets say, building a better mousetrap, typically the iNtuitive would be the one coming up with the idea and the Sensor would be the one actually making it. Typically, Sensors are very linear thinkers, thinking of one thing at a time and focusing on the details through their senses. A typical iNtuitive is often thought of as being kind of "flaky" because of the way their mind works. They start with something, and that brings to mind something else. That then brings to mind something else, and so on, until they're way out from where they started.

So, from how you are describing yourself, it sounds like your preference is for being an iNtuitive. Don't beat yourself up over it! Although you may never be able to totally focus on all details, with practice you can get better. I am an iNtuitive, but I have a very good grasp of details...most of the time. I think it's because I grew up with all 5 of my siblings and my father being Sensors, so I had to learn how to get along in "their" world. So most of the time I do very well when I switch from Sensing to iNtuitive mode. However, my husband is a Sensor and we've had a lot of arguments because of it. For example, we are driving down the road and he says, "Hey, look at all the deer out tonight." And I say, "Deer? What deer? I don't see any deer." He accuses me of not paying attention and I guess I'm really not because as he's driving, I'm not focusing on the details of my surroundings. My mind is "off in the ozone" somewhere, thinking about all kinds of things.

I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of kids diagnosed nowadays with ADD are actually iNtuitives. They naturally find it harder to focus on the details because their mind is not keyed in to focus on details.

Don't worry if missing the small stuff makes you seem idiotic. To be an iNtuitive is a gift in itself. Your strengths lie elsewhere, just not in the details. As long as it's not affecting the quality of your work, you can always ask one of your co-workers for help. We all have things that we need help with and there is no shame in asking. The next time you are doing things that require focus, as you are doing them, be aware of what is going on in your mind. Are you really concentrating on what you are doing, or is your mind off on some tangent somewhere? If it is, stop, go back to focusing on what your're doing. Be aware everytime your mind wanders and go back to where it should be, concentrating on what you are doing. Once you've done this process, oh, let's say a hundred thousand times, you'll probably get the hang of it and find those details you've been missing!

I recommend reading a good book on personality type so you can understand this a little better. I don't have my books handy to give you a name, but if you go to Amazon.com they're easy to find. You may never find yourself good at the details, but I bet you're great coming up with ideas and possibilities for things. So use your strength. You may even be able to trade off some of your work duties that require alot of attention to detail with a Sensor who has job duties that require being an "idea" man and that part of the job they don't particulary relish. Good luck to you!

Answer 5

You might want to get one or two friends/co-workers you can trust to review your work and give you feedback. One of my friends was really bad at the details and she knew I was detail-oriented she asked me to check her stuff before she sent it out. We would talk about what she missed and she would correct it. After a while, she was able to catch the mistakes herself before she sent them to me and later didn't need me because she had just gotten into the practice of double checking her work. Just make sure to ask a friend who wouldn't mind doing this or hold it against you. Maybe this would work....good luck!

Answer 6

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Answer 7

I was wondering much the same question

Answer 8

that is a tricky question