Seven Secrets to Money Success - Number 3.

The BIG picture is what counts
The big picture brings context to a situation. Have you ever been caught by missing the context of something? Suppose I was to take you out and ask you to run 100 metres in competition to ten other people. You would likely run as fast as you could for that distance. If, at the end of the 100 metres I told you that this was the beginning of a marathon, then you would ask me why I hadn’t told you that BEFORE you began. You would probably have run the distance more slowly to conserve your energy for the whole distance. Another example of this is when an architect looks at the plans of a building. It is the overall picture which is important rather than any particular piece of the design. Whilst the individual pieces make up a design, it is not until they are all together that the building can be viewed as a whole. The same is true when you look at finances. It is not simply a matter of getting more income than expenses. What happens after that? What do you do with the excess? You need an overall BIG picture to see your finances from the correct perspective which will have two aspects to it. What have I been doing for the last period of time AND what have I got left to continue onto the next period. This is simply a NET INCOME STATEMENT (what I have been doing during the period) and a BALANCE SHEET (what I have left to take into the next period). Without this kind of perspective you can spend all your time trying to get more and more income and nevcer work out what’s left and what you are accumulating as wealth. The BIG picture has both aspects. What am I doing and what have I got left.

http://www.wheresthemoneygone.com/home.html