On Situational Strategy

On Situational Strategy

As an incorrigible planner, I’ve wasted a lot of time and effort in the past by stubbornly sticking to a plan. After all, it was the plan.

Through trial and error, a whole lot of error, I’ve learned that a plan is good, but by no means set in stone. The situation may (will) change and so the strategy going forward will have to as well. I cannot let the plan serve as blinders.

Mike has always been good at this. We once found ourselves stranded at an airport in Italy. Sudden snow grounded all flights. There were thousands of distraught passengers in the airport, while airline representatives slowly retreated from the frustrated crowd. There was nothing they could do.

I would have waited in that airport for days. Because the plan was to take a flight from that airport. I could see no other option than to remain there until the planes were once again flying and we could pick up where we’d stalled.

That would have been a really stupid idea.

See how the plan was blinding me? Keeping me from strategizing to the situation?

Eventually Mike convinced me that there was no point in remaining there. We took a bus to a train to another train to another train, from Milan to Vienna to Prague.

It was a hellish trip in cramped quarters. At one point we shared a compartment with a man who reeked of booze and body odor. Not just garden-variety body odor. It was nuanced. Notes of armpit… a hint of feet.

Despite the discomfort, it was movement in the right direction. We got where we needed to go instead of remaining stagnant at the airport, waiting on outside forces to make our plans happen.

When I get mired in thinking I need to stick to the plan, or waiting on someone else to complete their part of the puzzle, I remind myself of that trip and regain control.

A plan is a great guideline, but situations change, and it’s important to be able to strategize so that the plan can change accordingly. Otherwise, I might miss out on the greater goal, all because I’m still stuck waiting at the airport.

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Be Selfish with Your Time

Be Selfish with Your Time

One of the most common excuses I hear from people about why they haven’t achieved something is that there’s not enough time.

But really, time moves at the same pace for all of us. No one gets more hours in a day than anyone else. It can’t be bought or bartered.

What we achieve (or don’t) has less to do with how much time we have and more to do with what we prioritize.

Prioritizing isn’t nearly as hard as people make it out to be. Here’s my free 2-step guide on how to prioritize:

What is most important to you?
Do that first.

I realize that we are constantly bombarded with distractions. A million shiny objects vying for our attention. If they threaten the best use of your time, you have to try to limit your exposure to them.

Sometimes it’s not the shiny object, but the emotional pull associated with how we spend our time. If you share your home with a partner and/or kids, you know this well.

Time spent comes with guilt.

Your mind is flooded with all the other things you could be doing. And maybe you convince yourself you should be doing them.

Being selfish with your time is hard, but necessary. Claiming your time is often harder than whatever you set out to accomplish with that time.

But you have to do it. There are no gains without effort. The book won’t write itself.

I’m not writing this from an expert perspective. Claiming my time is something I struggle with daily.

I have wins and losses. Days when my time is spent exactly as I hope, and others when I kick myself for giving time to people or entities that don’t deserve it. But I know in either case that there’s no such thing as “not enough time.” It all comes down to how I use it.