I am a "big picture" type of person, but have a hard time figuring out the steps. Is there something wrong?

Question

I call it the reverse of "Can't see the forest through the trees", I can't see the trees through the forest. Even when I sit down to make a step by step list, I can't do it.
This drives my wife nuts because she believes it should be so easy and I have some "other" reason for doing it.
It also doesn't help in my career because I can come up with wonderful concepts but can't follow through with the nuts and bolts of it.
Is there some other reason or do I just lack the ability?

Answer 1

I don't think you lack the ability. There is just something blocking you from doing it. If this is bothering you and it is effecting your life/or relationships, you might consider taking some psychological assessment tests.

A licensed professional could possibly help you get to the root of the problem. Check your area and see if their is someone who can help you get to the bottom of this. Once you pin point what is blocking you..you can proceed with correcting the problem if there is something that needs to be corrected.

Good luck.

Answer 2

I don't think there's anything wrong with you. It takes all kinds, and you would be great in a team with someone else who is better at the step-by-step planning, because you would be able to keep the focus on the goal.

Editing my post in response to the one above mine: Depression is possible, but as a person who has depression, I know that it isn't as viable a possibility as some other ideas. It can cause you to not see clearly the little things (giving you the impression that you're floating along through life), but that doesn't really sound like what you're talking about. The adult ADHD does sound more possible. My best friend has ADD, and when she's off her meds (she only takes them during stressful times), her mind is everywhere, making it somewhat difficult for her to settle into the task of planning life. In that case, though, impulsive behavior takes over. From what you said, I don't think it's either, because it does sound like you TRY to work on details, you just can't quite get there.

I don't know, but I kind of wonder if men have a harder time with the step-by-steps than women. In my marriage, my husband will have an idea of what he wants, but he just has NO idea of how to get there, so I sit down and figure out who to call and what to ask and what is needed and all that little stuff. I, on the other hand, tend to get lost in the steps, and need him around to keep me on track.

Everyone has their gifts, and there's nothing wrong with being good at some things and not so great at others.

Answer 3

I do not know what you do, but a good design team consists of people like you that see the big picture, and then people who figure out the details, the list thing, is just a matter of sitting down and focusing for acouple of minutes, start small, write a grocery list, then come up with a plan for a fence or a poarch or sometihng and write a list for that, what will I need, nails wood (how much ) etc. the the ability to think big is important and if it is not beneficial in your line of work maybe think about another career...cheers

Answer 4

We each are born with a Fate Karma, and this largely dictates what we do, what we can do, and what we incline naturally toward doing.

To accomplish its task, the MIND, through which the Fate Karma works, emphasizes some skills and diminishes others. Some access to ones intuition via ones Apapsyche, or for some people, little access at all. One is either Left-brain or Right -brain oriented. If Right-brain oriented, one will have a concept orientation, which comprehends the "big picture" sense of life, and leaving this natural inclination to struggle with the linear, largely Left-brain activity, will be difficult.

So, what is the answer? Accept ones natural inclinations, and enjoy creating concepts. And.... intentionally involve yourself in work involving problem solving at the most basic level... even though this is tiresome, causes impatience, and is tedious work. The foundation of a building is just as important as the whole building, including the look of it. A concept is useless unless those aspects of it that others can "see" and comprehend are there for them to "see" and comprehend.

One can dream up all kinds of concepts.... and who cares? This physical plane takes money, struggle, and effort to make anything work. A concept that cannot be implemented is of what value to this plane in any practical sense?

What is easy is fun, but this plane is not intended to be fun. That is something one can enjoy, but do not expect the world to pay for it.

Peace

Answer 5

I am going to guess it is one of two things:

Either you could be one of the people who has adult ADD and has never had it diagnosed, or else

Maybe you like the idea of being a "big-picture thinker". Maybe you see that as being more intelligent than it is to be the "nuts- and-bolts" kind of person. The world has kind of "established" that people must be in one of the two categories. The people who do the nuts and bolts stuff are seen as the workers, and the people who do the big-picture thinking are generally seen as more intelligent. Maybe you don't want to have to force yourself to do nuts-and-bolts-type stuff because you like to think of yourself as "above all that". Maybe it fuels your ego to imagine how you may not be capable of such "standard-level" thinking.

If you have some form of ADD it would explain why you can't muster up the self-discipline to do something like make a list. Maybe, though, just the act of making yourself do something as mundane as list would make you feel as if you had lowered yourself to the point of actually becoming involved in some "lower" type of thinking.

Your remark that you can come up with "wonderful" concepts makes me wonder if those concepts are really as wonderful as you believe they are or if, instead, you do have a shred of ego-inflation; and ego's that are inflated beyond what is appropriate tend be on thin enough ice that people with them may be less likely to be able to overcome them. I am not in a position to be able to "psycho-analyze" you, so the following comment is offered with that in mind but offered nonetheless: Is there any chance if you were to really be super-honest with yourself the idea of doing something like "sitting down to make a step-by-step list" would amount to you - emotionally - like putting a pin in an inflated ego-balloon? Is there any chance you're hanging onto the image of yourself as a "big-picture" thinker because you are under the impression there is no such thing as the person who can both see the big picture and be capable of both knowing what has to be done and doing that in order to create that big picture?

It is very convenient for a person to "lack the ability" to do the nuts-and-bolts stuff. That means they get to think about the fun stuff without having to muster up the self-discipline to overcome the wish to do fun thinking and do, instead, what is necessary. I was knew a woman who so wanted to be above anything associated with being the mother of young children she made a giant deal out of pretending (and I know she was pretending because she wasn't in a coma for 30 years) she didn't know what a child's stroller was. She was actually willing to make herself look like she lived under a rock or in a vegatative state rather than to let anyone "mistake" her for someone who wasn't "above all that".

One other thing: There is the chance you have some kind of depression, which wouldn't necessarily stop you from being able to think of the big-picture stuff but which could give you difficulties in mustering up what it takes to do certain types of work.

Those are my guesses about what could be going on.

Answer 6

It's just your style. I'm the exact opposite. It is just how you are. It is the method of which you think about things.