Most failures don’t announce themselves with alarms blaring and systems crashing. They slip through the cracks in the form of a small oversight, a slightly incorrect detail, or a minor mistake that no one thought to double-check. They seem insignificant—until they aren’t.
We’ve seen it happen, even experienced it firsthand. A single misplaced character in a system, a wrong name on an important document, or a small error in a process—these tiny mistakes can create bigger problems. Hours wasted fixing issues. Stressful situations that could have been avoided. And all because of something so small, it was almost invisible.
It’s easy to dismiss these details as too minor to matter. But small things add up, and when ignored, they can lead to major consequences. These weren’t massive, obvious failures. They were tiny details missed, ignored, or dismissed until they became disasters.
People like to say, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” But in reality, the small stuff is the big stuff. A tiny mistake, a small delay, or an overlooked setting can have a bigger impact than expected. A fraction of a second can be the difference between success and failure. One unchecked detail could lead to bigger issues down the line. The gap between excellence and disaster is razor-thin, and it is almost always measured in the details.
We must train ourselves to see what others overlook, to question what seems insignificant, and to care about the details no one else notices. As Tim Grover reminds us in the BlessUP media below: the devil is in the details. Everyone wants to WIN but only those who operate with Crazy Fanatical Attention to Details (CFAD) will.
CFAD is not about being nitpicky—it’s about ownership. It’s about protecting what is built and showing respect. It’s about understanding that the smallest details often have the biggest impact and that true excellence isn’t just about creating something great, but about how carefully it’s built.
In the end, delivering WOW isn’t just about fixing things when they break—it’s about making sure they don’t break at all. That’s the difference between being good and being the best. That’s the mindset that separates those who hope for excellence from those who guarantee it.
So today, and every day, sweat the small stuff—because it is the big stuff.
