Strategy

I’ve been thinking about strategy the past couple of days. Strategy = thinking deeply before acting. It applies (or should) to all aspects of life: time allocation, fitness, work, where you live, etc. I strategized a bit here and there w/r/t my entrepreneurial process, but in hindsight I probably should have spent 10x more time on strategy before jumping to execution.

The achievement process follows a simple pattern: mission -> strategy -> execution. Often times the difficulty descends. For example, defining your life mission(s) is the most challenging aspect of this process. If you can pin down a mission, then strategizing will take deep thought and iteration but is doable. Executing may be painful, but shouldn’t require much thought if the mission and strategy are sound.

My defined entrepreneurial goals changed recently, so clearly my mission there was not sound.

I believe I enjoy (am addicted to…) challenging exercise because I can complete the achievement process without thinking. The mission is clear: improve health and feel better about yourself. The strategy is usually simple: run a half-marathon. It’s all about the execution: suffer until complete. Exercise is a satisfying yet incomplete experience.

I think building a company requires one to successfully embark on each piece of the achievement process, so hopefully entrepreneurship represents a more complete challenge than exercise.

*I think the best way to define mission and strategy is to write. Some of my first blog posts scratched the surface of this idea, and I hope to produce more strategy content moving forward.