“Your works?” Watson shouted.
“Oh, you didn’t know?” Sherlock cried, laughing. “Yes I have been guilty of several monographs. They are all upon technical subjects. Here, for example, is one ‘Upon the Distinction between the Ashes of the Various Tobaccos.’ In it I enumerate a hundred and forty forms of cigar, cigarette, and pipe tobacco, with coloured plates illustrating the difference in the ash. It is a point which is continually turning up in criminal trials, and which is sometimes of supreme importance as a clue….”
“You have an extraordinary genius for minutiae.”
That exchange between the indelible, coked-out Sherlock Holmes and his Dr. Watson came in the first chapter of The Sign of Four.
Indeed, Holmes did have a genius for minutiae. In their first story together, A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock confirmed his murder suspect by matching the traces of tobacco found at the murder scene to the suspect’s preferred blend.
For Holmes, success was found in the minutiae.
The Super Bowl champions know this, too.
In 2022, the NFL changed the playoff overtime rules. Instead of the first team who scored a touchdown winning, like in the regular season, after the change, both teams got the chance to possess the ball.
The San Fransisco 49ers didn’t know the implications of this rule; the Kansas City Chiefs did.
Multiple San Francisco players said after the game that they were not aware that the overtime rules are different in the playoffs than they are in the regular season, and strategy discussions over how to handle the overtime period did not occur as a team. Defensive lineman Arik Armstead said he learned the details of the postseason rule when it was shown on the Allegiant Stadium jumbotron during a TV timeout after regulation. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk said he assumed the 49ers asked to receive when they won the toss because that’s what you do in the regular season, when a touchdown wins the game. “I guess that’s not the case. I don’t really know the strategy,” Juszczyk said.
Compare those statements to Kansas City’s strategy:
The Chiefs’ overtime plan worked out exactly how they had hoped—and it wasn’t by accident. Kansas City safety Justin Reid told The Ringer that the Chiefs had first discussed the new overtime rules as far back as training camp. Defensive lineman Chris Jones told me players were prepared for what to expect if the Super Bowl went to overtime.
“We talked through this for two weeks,” Jones said. “How we was going to give the ball to the opponent; if they scored, we was going for two at the end of the game. We rehearsed it.”
“…the Chiefs had first discussed the new overtime rules as far back as training camp. Defensive lineman Chris Jones told me players were prepared for what to expect if the Super Bowl went to overtime.”
There is probably nothing more boring to discuss at training camp than the post-season overtime rules. But for the Chiefs, that’s where success is.
You can be very successful in your chosen career by becoming an expert in topics, ideas, or technologies that other people ignore and think aren’t important.
Success is found in the minutiae.
What are people ignoring around you?