How Attention to Detail Increases Your Income

Repost

Remember how satisfying it was to solve a mystery just by replaying the details in your mind? Where are your missing keys? Did your sweetheart lie to you? Where did you see that statistic that you could use in your report? Paying attention to details has many benefits.

Being detail-oriented is a valuable workplace skill: Detectives analyze clues to solve a case. Medical professionals keep a close eye on details so patients get the correct dose of medication. Accountants check their numbers: a payment of $100,000 and a payment of $1,000,000 is just the difference of one zero, with very different results.

From these examples, it’s clear that paying attention to detail is a vital skill to emphasize in resumes and skills assessments. Detail-oriented people have more workplace autonomy because employers can trust them to keep a business’s reputation.

Attention to detail, or being detail-oriented, is valuable in the workplace. There are several ways to sharpen or improve your attention to detail skills.

What does detail-oriented mean?

If you are detail oriented, you are thorough, observant, and notice small details. For example, your coworker schedules a meeting for Monday, March 6th. You check the calendar and notice that March 6 is a Sunday, so you ask your coworker to update the meeting information.

Precision is an important skill for any job, but small errors can have minor to major consequences depending on the job. 

Book editors fix mistakes such as incorrect page references. Not catching this error can result in a minor inconvenience for the reader. An incorrectly typed line of computer code can result in the program not working for the user. A mistake on an invoice could mean an incorrect payment. Marking the left leg and not the right leg for surgery can have disastrous consequences.

An employer trusts that a worker with close attention to detail will be accurate and careful, and not likely to make mistakes. That worker won’t need to be constantly monitored, and their work checked and rechecked. 

Detailed-oriented people work effectively and accurately on each task. Their meticulousness will save the company embarrassment from careless errors that may harm its reputation or finances.

Is attention to detail a skill?

People list “attention to detail” as a skill on their resume or describe themselves as detail oriented during interviews. However, unlike other skills such as reading, writing, listening, and speaking, attention to detail is rarely tested as part of the interview process.

Attention to detail, as mentioned already, affects a worker’s independence. A thorough and accurate worker is more likely to be given additional responsibility and more likely to be promoted. Employers trust that a detail oriented employee is careful to do each task correctly the first time. 

Paying attention to detail also has social impacts at work. This skill improves customer and coworker relationships. A coworker who remembers the name of your kids, asks about the restaurant you decided to check out on Saturday, or wonders if your sprained ankle has improved is someone you’re more likely to remember and like.

Similarly, the ability to remember small details improves customer relations and increases the likelihood of getting the customer’s business. Customers like to be remembered. It’s a great feeling, for example, to walk into a business and say you’ll get “the usual” and the staff knows exactly what you’re looking for.

Does attention to detail increase your income?

Those who are highly detail oriented are more likely to be in supervisory positions or have jobs with independence. These workers have shown that they are conscientious when doing their work. They can be trusted to check other people’s work and manage projects to complete them correctly and on time.

Attention to detail can help you get a high-paying career, particularly for jobs in which accuracy and human lives are at stake. Here are some jobs in which attention to detail is extremely crucial:

  • Anesthesiologist assistants
  • Family medicine physicians
  • Proofreaders and copy markers
  • Prosthodontists
  • Urologists
  • Archivists
  • Camera operators, television, video and film
  • Computer programmers
  • Court reporters and simultaneous captioners
  • Cytogenetic technologists
  • Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
  • Nuclear Power Reactor Operators
  • Obstetricians and Gynecologists
  • Optometrists
  • Physician Assistants
  • Skincare Specialists 
  • Watch and clock repairers

The income range for some of these detail oriented jobs ranges from $70,000 to $187,000 (averaged income for each career). If you thrive on the details, there are jobs in which your sharp focus is highly valued.

How to pay attention to detail at work

Like any skill, you can improve attention to detail over time, starting with short exercises and repeated habits.

Fun exercises you can try at home to improve your attention to detail skills include: 

  • Listening to ocean sounds or jungle sounds and paying close attention to the range of sounds that you hear
  • Studying a pair of compare/contrast pictures and listing the particular differences between the two pictures
  • Looking at a diagram and deciding whether it is the top, side, or bottom view of an object
  • Studying a picture or series of images, numbers, or letters to memorize patterns
  • Complete crossword puzzles
  • Count using a specific pattern, such as multiples of five, or looking at a page of text and counting every second word without the aid of your finger on the page

While at work, create habits that encourage you to become detail oriented:

  • Organize your desk and your emails. When you are organized, you can track deadlines and files better, and you’re less likely to forget to answer an email.
  • Write to-do lists. These lists will help you remember all the tasks you need to complete before their deadlines. You can also keep not-to-do lists, such as cutting down on TV time and spending more time on reading, exercise, or skills improvement. 
  • Create checklists. If you notice that you frequently make mistakes when writing emails, keep a checklist that you must complete before you send the email. For example, remind yourself to check the spelling of the recipient of your message and check a word you constantly misspell. You can also keep a checklist for procedures to make sure you complete all the steps before you hand off your part of a project.
  • Practice active listening. When you are the listener, don’t just stare into space until the speaker finishes. Nod or say, “um hm” or “yes” to show you are listening. Summarize or repeat what the speaker said to demonstrate that you heard the details.
  • Take notes. When you’re at a meeting, jot down important details about your tasks. During the meeting, take notes to keep you focused on details. After the meeting, these notes can become your checklist for what you must do.

Key Takeaways

Attention to detail is a valuable skill. People who are detail-oriented are trusted with more responsibilities on the job because they complete tasks accurately and thoroughly. A careless mistake can cost a company their reputation and a person their job. Careers in which attention to detail can mean life or death are lucrative. You can become more detail-oriented by creating habits at work that focus your attention on details. 

How detail-oriented are you? The next time you enter a room, take a look around for a few minutes, then close your eyes and try to remember as many details about the room as you can!

If you enjoyed this article, subscribe so you don’t miss the next post!

Food is a great example of mixing cultures

The other day, I had Korean food. Asian food doesn’t usually have cheese, but in North America, they have cheese in their food options. For example, Japanese sushi has a cream cheese roll, which has cream cheese in it. This ingredient is not typical for Asian cuisine. Many Asians are lactose intolerant, so cheese products aren’t popular.

I tried a Korean special platter that had rice, green onion, egg, bulgogi, corn, and melted cheese in separate sections on a metal pan that was heated by elements on the table. The platter was enough to share for three people. The cheese is unusual for Asian cuisine. The melted texture reminded me of pizza.  

The AAA beef “box sushi” (for lack of a better word) reminded me of Japanese cuisine. However, the Korean version had a slightly different flavor than the Japanese one. It was my first time trying out both dishes, but I liked them.

To me, these dishes were a great example of how cuisines from around the world and cuisines from different cultures blend together to create something tasty.

If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to make sure you don’t miss the next post!

What advice would you give to your teenage self?

I open the door and there is a woman in my closet. She raises a finger to her lips to signal me, “Hush,” as my mouth opens in a silent scream.

“Your mom doesn’t know I’m here, Cassie,” she says as she steps out of the closet. “You won’t get in trouble.” Her eyes pan briefly to my desk. “It’s the night before the big test. Oh, you hated that class so much. You’ll be punished for getting a stupid B+ in that class. What a tragedy. The only class where you don’t get an A.”

“Who are you?” I ask in a voice one notch above a whisper.

“I am Cassie Chen,” says the woman.

I stare at her in confusion. “But I’m Cassie.”

“It won’t always be this bad,” she says. “You’ll finish high school, move out, get a job, and have a fabulous career. You won’t be a doctor or lawyer, though. Ha! Do what you love, not what your mom wants you to be.”

“My mom will stop calling me a failure? She’ll be proud of me?”

“Oh no,” the woman says nonchalantly. “She’s not going to change. But you will. You’ll get out of here. This life-“ she waves her arm to encompass the bedroom that is my prison – “won’t last forever.” She grabs my hand and sits us down on the bed.

“You’re married?” I ask. Her rings sparkled when she waved her hand. She looks like she’s thirty. Beautiful makeup, earrings, and necklace. Stuff I’m not allowed to wear. I see her for the first time. She does look like me. But older.

“I’m forty,” she says. “We have a nice house and a good career. Mom doesn’t approve. Of course, but she can’t do much now. That’s not what I came here to tell you. I came here to say that I believe in you. You’re smart and talented and–”

I burst into tears. No one has ever said that before.

“I know, I know,” the woman says, and hugs me. “I need to go now. Mom is coming.”

“Am I going to see you again?”

“Of course. One day you’ll look in the mirror and you’ll see me. You’ll make it through this.” She returns to the closet. “Gotta go back to my own time. Remember I love you.” She blows me a kiss and shuts the door.

I hear footsteps coming down the hallway, but I rush to the closet and open it. My future self is gone but I can’t stop smiling.

How to change the world: if you could be somebody else for a day

Let’s dive into the realm of sci-fiction and fantasy! We’ll have a little fun with it and change the world. Really! If I could be somebody else for a day, I would switch places with my mentor and use his influence to effect some changes. Now, what mischief would I be up to? Let me explain.

Daily writing prompt
If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?
View all responses

To start, here’s some context on my mentor: without it, it is hard to see why I’m not following in his footsteps. He was my business mentor, and he owned a lot of fancy real estate: a condo with a beautiful view and a house with all the toys he collected. For example, luxury cars, movie collectibles that cost $500 to $5000, $15,000 purses for his wife, and a very large fish tank–the size you see in restaurants and hotels. 

If I switched places with him for a day, I would find myself in a house with a courtyard and two full-size kitchens. I would have a personal chef, which is great for someone like me who doesn’t like to cook fancy meals. But also for me, it’s too much luxury in these tough times. I’m not living in this house for a year, just for twenty-four hours.

So in that time, I want to exert some maximum clout. Here it is. I’d hop onto his social media channels with his millions of followers. (They don’t know that he’s not himself today.) I’d stream live and spread my message. It’s not his standard message of I’m rich and successful; learn from me and you’ll be successful too.

I’ll change things. I’d like to use my mentor’s social media channels to tell his followers to do something nice for someone, something small like holding open a door. Or something big like donating money to a charity, or volunteering at an organization. 

Imagine how wide that message would spread if each of those millions of people did something nice and the recipient of that kindness paid it forward. That’s double a million nice acts. And poof, after midnight when I’m me again and my mentor is himself again, that message will still be out there, making the world a better place. It won’t solve the bigger problems, but maybe a small act of kindness will bring a little smile to someone’s day.

Note: The apple in the picture is a nod to teachers mentoring the next generation – paying something forward.

If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to make sure you don’t miss the next post!

Work-Life Balance: Do you enjoy your job?

Those who love their job as if it were a hobby are lucky. This is even more true if their income is their ideal amount and their coworkers are great to be around. I certainly think of my job as something I could do even while on vacation and not consider myself as working. However, we need to draw the line somewhere–at what point is work intruding on personal time?

Daily writing prompt
Do you enjoy your job?
View all responses

Let’s weigh in on the question: What is work-life balance? How do you define it? Whether you have a work-life balance and whether you view clear boundaries between the two depends on how much you love your job. Here are some rare points of view to consider.

Remote work has made it easier to blend home life and work life into one room (or house). Employers and clients may have the expectation that you’ll respond to messages or complete work tasks between 9 a.m. to … well, 9 a.m. the next morning. 

As someone who manages projects, I’m answering work messages from morning til evening and on the weekends sometimes. Apps on smartphones have made it easier than ever to blur the lines between the office and personal time as we receive notifications even when away from the office.

The constant plug-in to workplace communication and work tasks can be exhausting. People need a break from work to recharge and return to their tasks with fresh eyes. But is it bad to blend work and home life together?

Some people love their career enough that working is as enjoyable as watching Netflix or playing video games. I’ve met some of these people (so they do exist).  

If you enjoy your work as much as you’d enjoy a hobby, then is working extra hours synonymous with workaholicism or overachieving? Does it make a difference whether you’re designing a graphic for a client or painting a picture to hang on your wall?

Some self-employed people live in their business. They are always reading or watching videos for self-improvement, or brainstorming new ways to increase their income or expand their products and services. Would this be considered overworking? It depends.

Everyone should be learning new things, whether it is a new hobby, new skill, or general-interest knowledge. People challenge themselves with fitness goals, reading goals, or social goals. How is investing more time in your career or business any different, if you love what you do, and if you still have time for friends and family?

If you enjoy what you do, then perhaps a job or business is no different than investing time and energy in a hobby or pastime. With this perspective, would work-life balance be… “balanced”? 

Of course, whether you have a spouse or children affects how much time you need away from work. If you enjoy traveling or socializing with friends, these interests also affect how much time you need to recharge from work. And of course, if you’re an introvert who prefers more “me time” away from your work and coworkers, that’s important too.

What are your thoughts on work-life balance if you have a job or career that you love?