This Is Why You Need To Utilize Strategic Thinking Now.
In your mind, what comes to mind when you hear the phrase “strategic thinking?” Is your mind whirling with images of company plans? Invent marketing strategies that can turn a business around? Do you have the ability to do so? Possibly you’re thinking about world politics.
Alternatively, you may recollect some of history’s most famous military battles, such as Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps to surprise the Roman army, Charlemagne’s conquest of Western Europe, or the Allies’ D-Day assault of Normandy during World War Two. While strategy may be used to military operations, it need not be limited to them or even to business. In each aspect of life, strategic thinking may have a good effect.
Make a plan for your life, and then follow through on that plan.
It has come to my attention that the vast majority of individuals attempt to organize their life one day at a time. They get up in the morning, prepare a list of things to accomplish, and get to work (although some individuals aren’t even that organized).
Each week, fewer people plan their life than in previous years. They go over their weekly schedule, double-check their appointments, go over their objectives, and then get to working. Generally speaking, they outperform the majority of their peers who work on daily planning. I make an effort to go a step farther in my planning process.
Toward the beginning of the month, I devote half a day to planning my schedule for the next forty days. Rather than simply thirty days, forty days works better for me. Then I’ll have an advantage over the next month and won’t be caught off guard. Beginning with a review of my vacation itinerary and the planning of activities for my family, I get things started.
Then I go through my list of projects, classes, and other goals that I want to do within that five to six weeks of free time.. Afterwards, I begin scheduling days and times for various activities such as thinking, writing, working, meeting with others, and so on For pleasurable activities like as attending a musical, watching a baseball game, or playing golf, I schedule time in my calendar. I also set aside tiny blocks of time to account for the possibility of the unforeseeable happening at any point.
Upon completion, I will be able to tell you practically everything I will be doing throughout the next several weeks, almost up to the minute and almost hour by hour.
Another reason I’ve been able to achieve so much is because of my plan.
This is why you need to Utilize Strategic Thinking now.
WHY YOU SHOULD USE THE STRATEGIC THINKING POWER TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
Strategic thinking assists me in making plans, being more efficient, maximizing my skills, and determining the most direct way to reaching any goal. There are a plethora of advantages to strategic thinking. You should include it into your thought process for a variety of reasons, the following being a few:
1. Strategic Thinking Makes Difficult Situations Easier to Handle
When it comes down to it, strategic thinking is nothing more than advanced preparation. Miguel de Cervantes, a Spanish author and poet, once observed, “The man who is prepared has half the war won.” Strategic thinking tackles complicated difficulties and long-term goals, which may be very difficult to solve, and breaks them down into digestible chunks that can be addressed more effectively.
When you have a strategy, everything gets much easier!
Strategic thinking may also assist you in streamlining the administration of your daily activities. I do this via the use of systems, which are nothing more than effective techniques performed over and over again. My filing technique is well-known among pastors and other public presenters for its efficiency.
It might be challenging to put together a lesson or speech. However, since I utilize my system to store quotations, tales, and articles, if I need anything to flesh out or demonstrate a point, I just go to one of my 1,200 files and pull out a nice piece of content that will work for the situation. With a little strategic thought, almost every challenging endeavor may be made a little easier.
2. Prompts for Strategic Decision-Making It is up to you to ask the appropriate questions.
Looking for a way to break down complicated or challenging problems? Then you may start asking questions. Through the use of strategic thinking, you are forced to go through this process. Take a look at the questions produced by my buddy Bobb Biehl, the author of Master planning, in the next section.
Next Steps: What do you recommend we do? Why?
When it comes to organizations, who is in charge of what? Who is held accountable for what? Are the right people in the right locations at the right times?
Cash Flow: What is our predicted income, cost, and net profit for the year? Are we able to afford it? How are we going to afford it?
Tracking: Are we on the right track?
Generally speaking, are we attaining the level of excellence that we anticipate and demand of ourselves?
Refinement: What can we do to become more effective and efficient (and hence closer to the ideal)?
Even while these aren’t the only questions you should be asking yourself when you begin to build a strategic plan, they are a fantastic place to start.
3. Strategic Thinking Prompts for Individualized Instruction
“Successful generals develop plans to suit circumstances, rather than attempting to manufacture circumstances to fit plans,” General George S. Patton noted.
All effective strategic thinkers are meticulous in their reasoning.
The aim is to adapt the strategy to the issue at hand, since strategy isn’t something that works for every situation. Sloppy or too broad thinking is a major obstacle to success. Having the aim to customize in strategic thinking encourages a person to think beyond general notions and to engage in particular ways to pursue a goal or to deal with a challenge. It helps to sharpen the intellect.
4. Strategic thinking prepares you for an uncertain future by preparing you now.
Strategic thinking is the connection that connects where you are now and where you aspire to go in the future. It provides direction and credibility now, and it raises your chances of achieving success in the future. The analogy used by Mary Webb is that it is like saddling your fantasies before riding them.
5. Strategic thinking lowers the probability of making a mistake.
Any time you take a shot from the hip or operate in a completely reactive manner, you increase your chances of making a mistake. A golfer would do the same thing by walking up to a golf ball and striking it before setting up the shot. A shot misaligned by a few degrees may send the ball flying hundreds of yards off course.
Strategic thinking, on the other hand, significantly decreases the margin for mistake.. Similarly to how lining up a shot in golf helps you put the ball closer to the pin, it helps you align your actions with your goals and objectives. The more closely you are aligned with your goal, the more likely it is that you will be moving in the correct direction over time.
This is why you need to Utilize Strategic Thinking now.
6. Strategic thinking gives you the ability to exert influence over others.
According to one CEO who confided in another, “Our firm has a short-term strategy as well as a long-term plan.” Our short-term strategy is to remain afloat long enough to complete our long-term strategy.” However, some corporate executives find themselves in this situation despite the fact that it is scarcely a plan.
In this case, there is more than one difficulty with disregarding strategic thought altogether. The company fails to grow the company and, as a result, loses the trust and respect of all those who are associated with the company.
The person in control is the one who has a strategy. It makes no difference in what sort of activity you are immersed in at the moment.
Employees want to follow a successful company leader who has a solid business strategy in place. Volunteers want to work with a pastor who has a solid ministry strategy in place. Children want to be with the adult who has a well-thought-out vacation plan, and they want to be with them. Others will pay attention to you if you exercise strategic thinking, and they will want to follow your example. Having strategic thinking skills is vital if you hold a position of leadership in a company.
HOW TO UNLEASH THE STRATEGIC THINKING’S IMPACT
If you want to improve your strategic thinking skills and become more capable of formulating and implementing strategies that will help you reach your goals, follow these instructions.
1. Identify and categorize the problem.
Breaking down a problem into smaller, more manageable portions allows you to concentrate your efforts on them more efficiently. This is the first stage in strategic thinking. It is not as essential how you do it as it is that you do it.
You could decide to break down a problem into its constituent parts. As automotive genius Henry Ford discovered when he invented the assembly line, “Nothing is very difficult if you break it into tiny tasks,” as he put it, “if you divide it into small jobs.”
It is entirely up to you how you split down a problem, whether it is by function, timeline, responsibility, purpose, or any other manner you choose. The key is that you need to break it down into smaller pieces. Only one guy in a million is capable of juggling everything in his thoughts while also thinking strategically in order to develop strong, feasible strategies.
2. Before you ask how, ask why.
When most individuals begin to use strategic thinking to solve a problem or plan a means to achieve an aim, they often make the error of jumping the gun and attempting to find out how to do it right away, rather than taking their time.
Instead of asking how, they should first inquire as to why something is happening. It’s impossible to know everything that’s going on if you leap into problem solving mode immediately away.
To quote the legendary engineer Eugene G. Grace, “Though thousands of engineers can design bridges, calculate strains and stresses, and draw up specifications for machines, only a great engineer can tell whether the bridge or the machine should be built at all, where it should be built, or when it should be built.” When you ask why, you are more likely to consider all of the possible explanations for a choice.
It assists you in broadening your perspective and opening your mind to new ideas and chances. The amount of resources and effort that you must devote to a given chance is often determined by the magnitude of the opportunity. Large chances need the making of big choices. If you jump to the how part too soon, you can miss it altogether.
This is why you need to Utilize Strategic Thinking now.
