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“If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.” Sun Tzu
Strategic thinking is clearly for all and not just for the military generals, chief executives and politicians. If you are a parent, or simply alive I bet you are engaging in strategic thinking. Sure, you may not deem yourself a strategic thinker but the sooner you begin to see yourself as one the better of you’ll be.
Why you ask? Because each day you and I are confronted with choices that warrant our decision making skills, thus the more adept and savvy we become in our decision making the more joy and happiness we could experience in our professional, business, relationships and life in general.
I get it, you are not Sun Tzu, and you don’t necessary view each day as a battlefield, but perhaps the sooner you adopt this view the more clearer things will be or seem. Who knows? A wise king once noted that, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” Simply, thinking strategic will eventually get you to become a strategic thinker.
Essentially, you are what you think, and what you think determines your focus and thus your attitude. Mastering your thoughts is perhaps the hardest thing a human can do or master. Albeit with awareness you can train and learn how to examine your thoughts as a mere observer.
According to psychologists, you think approximately 50,000 to 70, 000 thoughts a day. How does one keep track of that? Frankly, I have no clue, but if you are going to master the art of living happily and joyfully you may consider strategic thinking as the sure proof to direct your mind to where you wish to go as opposed to letting your mind wonders.
Here are a few questions you could engage your brain in to better position yourself as the strategic think you could be; one who is the master of his/her fate and a captain of his/her ship.
Be Open
To be an observe of your thoughts, you have to be willing to open up thus leading to asking you—the self the more open ended questions. This is where your aha will emerge as your brain goes to work for your with the divine intelligence for which you came powered in aka intuition.
Make Time To Reflect
We live in an age of running from one tactic maneuver to the next. To think strategically, you’ll have to make time to slow down. Busy while it may give you the thrills of feeling like you are accomplishing your goals, you will need to slow down to enjoy journey.
It is in this practice of introspection that you’ll uncover how you arrived at point A or B, and the joys, the mishaps and lessons learned along the way. As one wise man puts it, “it is a sad thing to succeed or fail and not know how you realized such outcome.
Write Your Vision Down
If it is not written down, you bet it is as good as lost. Sure, you’ll get insights if you are willing to be open and reflect. However, if you don’t make the time to review and write down your insights you have no insights. Strategic thinking is as much a practice as it is a way of being. Sure you want to be able think, capture and thinking through your thoughts, but if you don’t jot them down you can be sure your memory won’t hold.
Your Aha Moment Is Your Creativity in Live Mode
Aha moments if not noticed or treasured don’t mean anything. Whenever you have an epiphany your intuitive mind is sending you thoughts that if acted upon could yield you the a billion dollar idea, cure for cancer or panacea for climate change.
So, treasure those moments, embrace and poke the thoughts further in a methodical fashion and you may chart your way out of the life maze with a clear way forward for yourself and others.
Take Action
No matter how great a strategic thinker you become, if you are not executing on your thoughts and putting your insights to work, it’s good for nothing. Therefore, be willing to experiment your ideas, heck start that business, go back to school, take that international trip or accept or decline or accept that offer—for to think strategically is to embrace a new approach way of dong things tactfully or otherwise.
Tying It All Together
Strategic think is your approach to confront the challenges that face daily. Thoughts are just the means by which we humans engage our energy. Although, strategic thinking may take time to master, it can avail a profitable path to unravel the unknowns.
Allowing you to map out your north star so you can advance with innovative insights that bring about transformational thinking, products and services thus benefiting not just you but for the greater good. Why in keeping with Sun Tzu’s remarks, “If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.” You would end up positioning yourself where you aimed to be, realizing whatever outcomes you anticipated and even more.
Share your thoughts and comments below. I would love to learn from you as well.
Carolyne helps professionals gain CLARITY around building a meaningful career. A speaker, author of Being Grounded: 21 Days To Come Alive and Love Your Life, and a contributing writer for various publications. To schedule your 45 minutes complimentary session with her, you can write her at carolyne@vpfstrategies.com
