Text of the meditation
Thoroughness consists in doing little things as though they were the greatest things in the world. That the little things of life are of primary importance is a truth not generally understood, and the thought that little things can be neglected, thrown aside or slurred over is at the root of that lack of thoroughness that is so common, and that results in imperfect work and unhappy lives.
When one understands that the great things of the world and of life consist of a combination of small things, and that without this aggregation of small things the great things would not exist, then one begins to pay careful attention to those things one formerly regarded as insignificant.
Whoever acquires the quality of thoroughness becomes a person of usefulness and influence.
James Allen (1864–1912), Book of Meditations for Every Day in the Year (1913) – public-domain text, gently modernised.
The original 1913 text is in the public domain.