Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Excellence in major achievements comes from consistently handling small tasks well.
In plain terms
Great results start with good habits in tiny matters.
What can you take from it?
Cultivate attention to detail daily.

Where it applies

  • project management
  • personal development

Putting it to work

  • set micro‑goals
  • review daily performance

Questions to consider

  • What small habit could improve your work?
  • How do you keep big goals in view?

Another view

Focusing only on small tasks can neglect big‑picture strategy.

More from Colin Powell

  1. 'Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.'

    Permalink to quote #16
  2. 'Every organization should tolerate rebels who tell the emperor he has no clothes.'

    Permalink to quote #18
  3. 'Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.'

    Permalink to quote #15

Related quotes

  1. I don't believe in perfection. I don't think there is such a thing. But the energy of wanting things to be great is a perfectionist energy.

    Reese WitherspoonReese Witherspoon quote #8
  2. Our tendency is to be interested in something that is growing in the garden, not in the bare soil itself. But if you want to have a good harvest, the most impo…

    Shunryu SuzukaShunryu Suzuka quote #13
  3. Thoughts which come at a call Are no better than if they came not at all Neither flower nor fruit, Yielding no root For plant, shrub, or tree.

    Margaret FullerMargaret Fuller quote #80