You’re right, you need to look at the big picture in order to know which direction you’re going. Because walking faster doesn’t mean jackshit if you’re headed the wrong way.

But I have the notion that this wasn’t what Niklas meant — let’s look at his quote again:

You don’t have time for big-picture concerns when you’re doing

The magic word here is concerns. He doesn’t say never look at the big picture.

Tim has explained it pretty well actually:

The privilege of worrying about concerns that you can’t solve right now — and may never solve — is lost when you are so focused on doing, which is the result of daily action.

Don’t worry about concerns which you cannot solve right now, or even might never be able to solve. It is wasted time and energy. Instead, focus on achieving today what you can achieve.