Don’t Miss The Bigger Picture!

Several years ago, I remember watching a video with a small team that showed people passing a basketball among them. The Facilitator’s instructions were to count the number of times the ball was passed within a fifteen second time period.

I began to count the passes, making sure I didn’t miss one. I was truly focused on the ball. After he called time, I was ready to give my count, but the question was not how many times the ball was passed, it was “who saw the Dancing Gorilla?”

The majority of us immediately said there was no Dancing Gorilla. The video was shown a second time, and lo and behold, there was someone dressed up in a gorilla suit dancing in between the people passing the ball.

So what’s the point of this exercise? For me, it was a strong reminder that you shouldn’t become so focused on one thing because it may cause you to miss the bigger picture.

What is it for you?