The Art Of War

[Ajax]

I am so happy about Leo's video this week. I enjoy learnling about strategy. The Art of War was the very first book that I read on self development. I wanted to know who has read this book,  I believe it is the ultimate guide to strategy.

I would like to start this topic by sharing the 5 principles of a good strategist that Sun Tzu talks about.

1. Moral influence- Having the support of those in your circle, they will follow you through death and life... that is how much they believe in you and your cause.

2. Heaven- The environmental factors that are out of your control but have to work around, night and day, season, social atmosphere, moods.

3. Ground- The environment, the conditions of the path you have chosen. The ease and difficulty of the direction you want to take. The risks involved and the challenges that you will face.

4. Leadership- These are the personal traits that are best to develop. ST says they are wisdom, sincerity, humanity, courage and discipline.

5. Method- This is the management of your resources and the way you manage the factors that come into your life.

This is a terrific topic and there is so much to say on all these things, but I gleefully await all your responses.

[Clay]

I keep hearing about this book and seeing people reference it. It's original writing dates back to around 500 B.C., so it has certainly withstood the test of time. I will have to check it out!

Thanks for the breakdown of the 5 principles of a good strategist. These principles seem very good.

[Leo Gura]

A good book to read after watching the video.

[Ajax]

Thank you, Clay.  I am happy to see that you find some value in it. Of course I would love to get your thoughts on it too, I take every opportunity I can to learn. I value it as a spiritual guide because its principles are based on the Tao and it is simply an instruction to help you through conflict.

I would like to keep updating my thoughts  on this subject....

 

Here are the 5 Faults of a Strategist:

1. He who is reckless can be killed"- This is regard to emotions, people depend on you and you must lead them with a level head. If you get impulsive or angry or do anything that causes you to react, it is an opening to be destroyed. If you have too much courage and disregard consequences, you can get over your head. People turn against you and you can get overwhelmed by the challenges.

2." He who is cowardly can be captured"- There is a time to put aside your fears and doubts and go for something. The easiest way to lose is to be afraid to take an opportunity because you lose ground and any advantage you have will be lost and everything you worked for will be gone.

3. "He who is quick tempered can be insulted"-  The classic trick of deception is to misdirect. You insult an angry man and he will charge like a bull and you can attack in a different direction and hit him where it hurts.

4. "He who is moral can be shamed"-  Don't have a need for pride and glory, because it can be taken advantage of you. If you value your reputation before your objective you are asking for trouble. Someone can put you in a position where  you have choose between your reputation and the moral thing to do.

5. "He who is fond of the people can be worried"- There are going to people who don't like you and there are going to be people that you upset and hurt in anything that you do. If you are too sympathetic to them, it will make you indecisive and cowardly because you don't want to speak up.

[Ajax]

Well,  Today I would like to talk about the first tip ST talks about when he talks about building momentum(chapter 5).

"Managing many is the same as managing few; it is a question of division";

When you are engaging in strategy, you have to not only balance so many factors, you have to go toward your goals. An essential component of strategy is learning how to divide things properly.  This is so important because you can use this principle with everything, time management, organization, personal finance, health and exercise, achieving goals... everything.

So I repeat for emphasis:

The key to strategizing correctly is divide your plan into easily achievable tasks that you can complete on a daily basis.