

In 2014, I started to compose this post about getting unnecessarily stuck in the weeds (aka minutia) My first obstacle was that I couldn’t spell it. Perhaps I should have just went with getting in the wees. Because with that spelling discovery, the metaphorical fun began. As did this venture into the weeds of minutia begins.
There is no such place as Menusha in the state of Wisconsin. But you can visit Menasha, Wisconsin. Minutia is more likely found n the state of confusion.
mi· nu· ti· a (n)
A small or trivial details: From Late Latin mintiae, petty details, from Latin mintia, smallness, from mintus, small.
from dictionary.com
However you spell it, the question remains: How do we avoid getting stuck in it? First let’s get a handle on it:
OK, it means small or petty details. With some folks, you ask them for the time and they describe how to build the watch. Let’s define what minutia can mean for high level executives.
Listen for the term. When you hear it, is it describing a scenario with an absence of focus on what is genuinely important? Isn’t the trivial outranking things of higher potential when allocating time and/or resources?
Now here’s a group we might associate with minutia: economists! They seem to enjoy using intellectual yet cluttered phrases like marginal propensity to consume. Perhaps they might help us while here; let’s create a new economists’ buzz phrase. What if economists examined the opportunity cost of minutia where you work? Could they quantify the amount of major opportunities that are squandered because you’re stuck in the daily minutia. What opportunities are currently on your agenda that were also there six to twelve months ago? What does delayed execution cost you each year?
When is good enough, good enough?
With as many times as I’ve used the word minutia on this page, this page has become prominent in Google and Yahoo for both menusha and minutia. If only minutia was a sale-able e-commerce commodity! Perhaps not. However our clients tell us that helping them to rise above their minutia has significant value. If it’s getting deep where you work and you’re open to take action to avoid squandering opportunities, feel free to drop me a line.
Minutia Trivia? How redundant is that?
And by the way, please don’t ask how much time I spent creating those map images. I’ll never tell.
Enough! How is trivial minutia is holding you back? Before you go back to work: What might you start to do differently to overcome it?
Just asking…
What if you replaced your use of the S-word with the M-word?
As a less-is-more advocate, I’m enthused to share…
The Power of Saying More with Less
Written by the Co Founders of Axion and _Politico Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen & Roy Schwartz. The book provides practical examples for applying Smart Brefity to communication and interactions of all kinds.
Tom Lemanski helps accomplished leaders unlock potential, solve complex challenges, and amplify their impact.
Effective leadership is the key to driving meaningful, lasting success in a fast-changing world.
Tom’s focus on innovative strategies and self-awareness creates transformative results for leaders striving for the next level.
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“Power today comes from sharing information, not from withholding it.'” – Keith Ferrazzi