The Importance of Stepping Back

When faced with any kind of decision or when choosing between several possible courses of action, it is almost never bad advice to mentally "step back" and take a moment to consider the wider context in which you are operating. Stepping back is a chance to take stock of where you are and reaffirm where you are going. 

It is easy to get so caught up in the minutiae of a project that we begin to loose sight of what the original goal was when we started. When we plow ahead without periodically reassessing where we are in relation to where we want to go, we can sometimes, through a series of almost imperceptible deviations, find ourselves veering away from our intended goal -- like a hiker in the desert who starts out heading due west, but doesn't realize that they are slowly drifting south with every step because they never bothered to recheck their compass.

This is not to say that one needs to plan every step of a journey before taking a step or that exhaustively detailing the history of a project at the start of every meeting is necessary. Information is usually gained through action, so moving forward (and getting feedback) is important. Just remember that sometimes "one step back, two steps forward" can be more productive than "three steps somewhere."