I asked Boulder Quest shodan and senior student Thomas Luce to contribute his wisdom to our blog, based on what he is studying right now toward his second-degree black belt. He responded with this insightful essay into the nature of victory, a worthy topic for a student striving toward mastery!

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When I was invited to guest-blog, I decided to focus on the book Life-Lessons from Combat Generals. It may seem like combat maneuvers are pretty specific in applicability, but we can learn a lot about ourselves and our lives by looking at the wisdom gained by generals in battle.

As a society we have mixed feelings about war, and some may find it hard to look at men of war as role-models. On the other hand, there are some good metaphors in large scale conflicts. If we assert that ultimate truth is in fact universal, then why would truth not reveal itself even in war?

To explore what these generals found, I first need to define the terms "strategy" and "tactic". A strategy is a system of operating that is separate from the specifics of any individual encounter. A tactic is a plan involving details relating to current conditions in a specific encounter. To give a warfare-based example, it could be said that a strategy is to take and control high-ground, while the methods used to accomplish that in a specific battle would be the tactics (all the specific considerations relating to troop availability, terrain, weather, etc).

"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat." -- Sun Tzu

Throughout all our lives we are constantly making plans and goals. From the moment we wake up, we plan our day. From the moment we move away from parents, we plan careers. From the moment we start families, we plan futures. Setting goals, planning, and working through those plans is the foundational method from which all action is born. Sometimes the process lasts only seconds, sometimes years or decades, but it is always happening. It behooves us therefore to know the times when large plans (strategies) and small ones (tactics) are more appropriate.

I have a friend who is the ultimate idealist, all strategy and no tactics. We all have friends like this, the person who has the highest aspirations, and conducts their lives as if their vision is ultimate and has already been realized...
If only the rest of the world would get on board... They have a great strategy, but don't know when to put that aside and actually get something done. In the western "enlightened" world, we call this a good thing. Someone working for high ideals is the best of the best, even if no results are actually generated.

I have another friend who is just the opposite, all tactics and no strategy. He is always working harder and harder just to get by. Every problem is a personal assault, and he's always scrambling. He has no larger plan, so he's always "on the defensive". Although he may never "lose", he'll also never win.

It breaks my heart. Both of these people know each other, and hate each other. But they have the answer that the other one needs.

The people who actually get things done in the world are the ones who balance strategies with tactics. Although they may have high goals, they don't tie themselves down to those goals in the face of adversity. They look at whatever it is that is holding them back, study it, learn it, and then come up with a new plan for overcoming it. After that, they throw that plan away, and resume their strategy or highest ideal.

Balancing these two things can be tricky because it's easy to trick ourselves into believing that the thing that we are working on at any given instant is the most important thing that we could possibly be working on. It's rarely true. Wouldn't it be great if you could set some high ideal, come up with a plan to achieve that ideal, and then actually do it? If every decision in your life was one that brought you closer to success?

One problem that people like to talk about lately is the economic crisis. There are a lot of people all over the world who have "the"
answer to it. But anything consisting of trillions of variables and millions of actors can't possibly be solved with a single tactic. To imagine that doing just one or two things will fix a problem of that size is ludicrous! On the other hand, even with a detailed strategy, do you really think that each step will just fly through with no resistance? If you do, you're setting yourself up for certain failure.
However, if you try to plan out every detail ahead of time, you will only be wasting your time and energy.

The only solution is to have a goal, develop a strategy that moves you toward that goal against all opposition, and when opposition arises, overcome it one step at a time with appropriate tactics. Let your enemies determine how they will be defeated.

A friend of mine and I started a business with this very goal. The strategy is simple: provide a mechanism that gives people the space to feel good about money, letting them develop their own strategies for success. The tactics we use to get from here to there are being determined by our users, our competition, our supporters and detractors. Our movements towards our goal will, and must, always be determined moment to moment. How sad it would be if we set out with some grand vision and no substance, or a scheme with no direction.

Think of something in your life that you want. Something big. Think about how you would get from here to there a year or two at a time. That’s your strategy. Then take some action. Inevitably everything will change. When it does, just take a breath, look around you, and come up with a plan for just this change. That’s a tactic. Once you've gotten past that, look at your grand plan (strategy), forget the tactic you just used, and repeat. You might be surprised. This is the process of war-winning generals, and more deeply, it is the method of creating success. Let your obstacles defeat themselves by suggesting tactics to you, and then check in after each battle to ensure you are still following your strategy. In this way a person can accomplish world-changing feats. In all other ways we are subject to the tactics of those making changes.

Thomas Luce
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Well-stated, Thomas!