Take inventory
of what you have

How many pairs of socks are in your drawer? If you're like me, you can't answer that type of question off the top of your head. In fact, unless the answer is zero, you probably never think about it. For something like socks this isn't a big deal. But how much money did you spend eating out last week? How many hours did you sit in front of the television, or spend looking at your phone? If you're like me, you don't have those numbers immediately accessible either. But they are ones that can actually impact your life. Whether and how you track your expenditures is a personal decision (although Toggl and Mint are two excellent resources that could give you answers to both of those questions). But taking inventory of what you have is the first step to recognizing redundancies.

Consider what
is relevant

Do you need to know how much time you spent eating last week? Unless you're on a crazy-tight schedule, you probably don't need to cut down on your meal-time. But maybe an accurate measure of your average commute would make you reconsider your current job. Or at least whether you look into working from home a few days a month. Do you need to know the number of calories you had at breakfast? Probably not. But making a note of how many times you've eaten out, and what kind of meals you have might just help you rebound from that second plate you had at Thanksgiving. Consider what is relevant: what do you need to know?

Apply resources in
proportion to the goal

Not everything needs to be changed. In fact, precision is about focusing only on what is relevant to consider in making decisions. But there are almost certainly some areas in your life that could use some refining. I know there are in mine. After taking inventory of what is going on in your life, and considering what you could improve, think about your goals. Do you want to write shorter, more effective e-mails? Spend some time researching effective strategies. But you're likely only to save a few minutes per e-mail, so don't pour hours into it. Find a better strategy, and then improve over time. If you write enough e-mails to care how much time you're spending on them, you'll be getting enough practice.

Conserve as much
as possible

Your resources are incredibly important. And while you have enough resources to do what is most meaningful, you don't have enough to waste your time, energy, and money on pursuits that don't help you reach your goals. So be frugal, even stingy. You want to spend less money on fast food? Start packing snacks and lunches. But don't spend hours baking beautiful, tasty snacks that you'll down in a bite. Prioritize your resources, but conserve as much of each as possible. Learn while you do it; don't try to have it all right the first time, but don't keep spending effort you don't have the resources to support.

Precision is an art, and it brings joy when artfully achieved. Make the investment to take these four steps to pursue precision. Take inventory of what you have; consider what is relevant. Be precise in the way you take these first two steps. Then continue that habit of precision by applying your resources in proportion to the goal and conserving as much of your resources as possible. Pursue precision with purpose, and you'll be surprised what benefits you'll reap from your intentionality.