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"Keep the general who listens to my calculations, for in using him, he will win. Remove the general who does not listen to my calculations, for in using him, he will lose."
- Sun Tzu One of the big challenges of applying The Art of War to life is the book, though short (13 short chapters that could be read in a day), contains a lot of principles to draw wisdom and guidance from. In addition, though the text appears simple, it is actually part of an elaborate and deep system of thought with a lot of layers. To make it easier for myself to put Sun Tzu's principles and strategies into practice, I came up with this list of ten simple rules to guide my everyday decisions. These rules are:
Following these rules consistently has helped me not just in making good decisions, but in avoiding making bad ones. Below I go into them in more depth. Rule 1: Cultivate the Tao For Sun Tzu, the Tao, or the Way, is what unites the upper and lower ranks in the army towards achieving a higher purpose. It’s what motivates the ruler, officers, and soldiers to act in the face of danger and informs them of why they are doing what they are doing. In your own life, you must develop your own Tao - a deep sense of purpose, a philosophy of what you want out of life and how you want to live. Your Tao encompasses your values and aspirations, your priorities and desires. Cultivating your Tao means looking at your situation and choosing actions that align with your Tao, your Way, so that you can maximize joy and fulfillment in your life. Rule 2: Calculate the risks before committing Sun Tzu tells us, “Only by calculating the dangers of going to war can you calculate the advantages.” Every endeavor you make has potential costs and dangers. You have to familiarize yourself with these before starting anything. What are the potential costs or dangers of starting a relationship with this person, or starting this business, or taking this job? The bigger the commitment, the greater the need to calculate the risks. Rule 3: Conceal your goals and intentions “Warfare,” Sun Tzu tells us, “is the Way of deception.” An army must conceal its position, its plans, and its actions from the enemy. For you, this means resisting the urge to tell other people your plans or ideas. The world has a very strange way of opposing your intentions if it knows about them. Friends and family will offer criticism. Enemies will offer obstacles and resistance. Even you will sabotage your own plans - through self-doubt, insecurity, or laziness. Your goal must be to keep your plans and movements secret. Rule 4: Gather intel Intelligence, or what Sun Tzu calls “foreknowledge” (xiān zhī), is a prerequisite for taking any kind of action or making any decision. Want to get into a relationship with someone? Find out about his/her interests, hobbies, values. Want to get a job at a company? Research the company - its market, its competitors, its products and services, etc. Want to try a new diet? Read what you can on it - how will it impact your life, what are the benefits, what are the potential downsides. Get enough information to get a clear picture of what you might be getting into. Rule 5: Make sure you are protected before taking action Sun Tzu tells us, “Skilled warriors first occupy an unassailable position, and then wait for the enemy to be open to attack.” Your priority in any endeavor is to make sure that if your endeavor fails, you are protected against losses. Don’t quit your job before you know you have that other job. Don’t move to that new town unless you have a backup plan. Give yourself a safe space to make mistakes and fail. Rule 6: Use your strengths to exploit opportunities For Sun Tzu, the way to victory is to attack with strength where the enemy is fewest or weakest. This same principle applies to life. Don’t try to strengthen where you are weak; rather, use your natural skills, talents, and traits to take advantage of opportunities that would be easier for you to maintain. Play in a space where you can dominate. Choose a business or job that fits exactly what you are good at and that you know you can contribute to. Choose a relationship where you can clearly see how your romantic strengths can fit with your partner’s. Find a place where you can uniquely contribute. The better the fit between you and the opportunity, the easier it will be to succeed. Rule 7: Take action only if there is some advantage The common advice when it comes to life or success is often focused on taking action, action, action. For Sun Tzu, however, taking action can be dangerous. Taking action may reveal your position, or it may cost valuable resources. This is the same philosophy you need to take in your own life. Make your moves strategic: only take action when there is something to gain. Only apply to job positions that will move you forward in your career; don’t apply just to escape your current job. Only launch a new product if it aligns with your philosophy and will strengthen your positioning in the market; don’t launch just because people are willing to pay. Only look for a relationship if you want to grow in your life; don’t do it just to escape loneliness. Rule 8: Accumulate as many little advantages as possible Following Rule #7 - yes, take action only if there is an advantage, but that doesn’t mean the advantage needs to be big. An advantage is any resource or opportunity that can improve your chances for success. An advantage could be a new connection to add to your professional network, a new client, a mentor, a tool or tip for improving your results. Anything that can increase your odds of success helps, and the more of these advantages you have, the closer you get to a tipping point. Rule 9: Focus on quick, secure victories with modest rewards over long, risky victories that can reap huge rewards For Sun Tzu, the biggest calamity in war is fighting a long, drawn-out war, regardless of the potential benefits. A long, drawn-out war sucks resources, costs lives, and opens a nation up to being attacked by neighboring countries. In life, this same principle applies. What you are after is a quick victory, one that doesn’t cost you much in time, effort, or money, but that can give you decent profits. For example, if you have to choose between job #1, which pay a lot, but comes with insane work hours and huge responsibilities and lots of restrictions in terms of decision making, and job #2, which pays less than than job #1, but offers you a lot more time and space to make decisions, job #2 would be the better choice. Though it’s less money, job #2 offers greater freedom and more time. Likewise, if you have to choose between client #1, who is willing to pay a substantial amount of money, but who comes with a lot of headaches and requires a lot of attention, and client #2, who pays less than client#1, but who is very easy to manage and requires little attention, then client #2 would be the better choice. Client #2 offers more time and freedom to acquire more clients like him. Rule 10: Once committed, go deep For all of Sun Tzu’s talk of calculating risks, moving only if there is advantage, and prioritizing being protected before taking action, his most controversial piece of advice is that when running a campaign, always invade as deeply as possible into enemy territory, where the danger is the highest. Why? Because the deeper you are in enemy territory, the more unified and motivated your army is. The army must work together and fight to survive, putting in more energy and attention than the enemy will to do so. The same goes with life. Once you’ve decided to commit to a certain endeavor - to take a job, to get into a relationship, to start a business - you must take the plunge. You must dedicate your time and energy to making it successful. You must be fully committed to improving and contributing. You must take your commitment very seriously, working with a sense of urgency and desperation. If you’ve followed Rules 1-9 well, then you will come out on top.
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"A skilled military operation cultivates the Tao, yet preserves the Methods. Thus, one can become master of victory and defeat."
- Sun Tzu The feedback loop is the process by which a system becomes stabilized. Input turns into output, which is then fed back into the input, and so on. The importance behind the feedback loop is that, if you are monitoring it, you can make quick changes to improve your situation. Think about a singer, for example. A singer tries to sing a certain note into a tuner, which tells her if she has hit the note she was trying to hit. If she is, then she can keep singing that note; if she isn’t, then she can use that information to self-correct and eventually get to the right note. Feedback loops can be extremely helpful in improving one’s strategy. The danger is that feedback loops rely on the assumption of a correct tuner – a mirror, an instructor, someone or something that can determine the “truth.” If the tuner is accurate, then you’re fine; but if someone messed with it, changing it around, then if you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself correcting yourself according to inaccurate feedback. The point here is simple: gaining feedback from the ground is important, but you must also have a higher philosophy (what Sun Tzu calls Tao, or “Way”) that guides your activities. You must have principles that tell you what you will accept feedback from and what you won’t. You must decide how you’re going to win. It takes huge courage to go against what the feedback gives you, to sing your own note, but costs may be too high otherwise. "Therefore, the winning army first wins, and later seeks to do battle. The defeated army first battles, and later seeks to win."
– Sun Tzu In any venture you take on, failure is always a possibility. It is an inescapable fact. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try your best to prevent it. If you want to achieve something long-lasting – an executive position in a company, a profitable business, a loving relationship – then don’t simply embrace the fact that it might not work out. Don’t accept “trying” as a valid excuse for taking a shot at something. If it means something to you, if something is at stake, then do your due diligence. Analyze and eliminate the risks, as much as possible. Don’t leave anything to chance. The more you pay attention to and actively reduce the possibility of failure, the greater your chances of success. There are two steps to doing this:
Doing this consistently will set you up for success – and not simply embracing the possibility of failure. "The skilled warrior stands on undefeated ground, and does not miss the enemy's defeat."
- Sun Tzu One of my favorite fables is "The Boar and the Fox." It goes something like this. One day a Fox is walking in the woods and spots a Boar, sharpening its tusks against an old tree. The Fox, seeing no one around, asks the boar: “Why are you sharpening your tusks? There is neither a hunter nor a hound in sight.” The Boar responds: “It would do me no good to have to sharpen my tusks at the time when I should be using them.” Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby, advises his readers: don’t start a business until people are asking you to. In other words, focus on trying to fill a demand or need – don’t just create an idea and hope people like it. But what if you don’t know what demand you’re trying to fill? What if you know you want to start a business or enterprise, but you’re not sure what to do, who to help, etc.? My answer: Sharpen your tusks. Prepare yourself. Start a project you can be excited about. Don’t worry about being rich and famous and powerful yet. Develop your skills and make yourself valuable. Build a network of valuable connections. Show your work. As you develop your skills and grow your knowledge, you’ll have a much better time spotting and seizing opportunities that come your way. And because you’re prepared, you’ll have a much easier time with it. So don’t feel bad when you hear “success stories” of people around you. Just focus on yourself, build yourself, and the rest will take care of itself. "Thus, the force of skilled warriors is like round stones rolling from a thousand ren high mountain."
- Sun Tzu Most people think that success is decided at one point: the winning game, that big home run, that big approach, that big date, etc. Sun Tzu teaches, however, that true success is cumulative. It’s about building as many little victories, as many little advantages as possible. Sun Tzu calls this shih, or momentum. For example, if you’re trying to get someone to be your romantic partner, it’s all the little things you do that will tilt him or her to your side, not some grand gesture. It’s the little compliments, the little favors, the good conversations you have. In competitive sports, it’s all those points you can score during during practice, all those drills you do successfully, all the strategies you develop, all the time spent finding your competitor’s weak points. In school, it’s all the little homework assignments, the little quizzes, the questions you are able to answer in class. If you do the little things right, then the “big win” will fall into place. If you find yourself having to rely on that “big win” in order to succeed, then you’re in trouble. "Move if there is advantage."
- Sun Tzu The other side to yesterday’s post is that if you can gain control, even just a little, then you should take it. (Assuming, of course, that the cost won’t bigger than the gain.) Any little bit that can help you move forward helps. Any concession you can get from the person with whom you’re trying to persuade helps. Any bit of understanding you can create between you and your significant other when arguing helps. Any little bit of attention you can get from social media or the press helps. Measure the costs, of course, but always strive to move forward. Step by step. "If there is no danger, do not fight."
- Sun Tzu Yesterday, I wrote about tactical hell, and how it involves reacting to other people’s moves without having developed a strategy of your own. In general, the way to get out of tactical hell is to constantly ask yourself: What am I trying to accomplish here? But another simple way to avoid tactical hell is simply to do nothing. You don’t have to engage arguments. You don’t have to constantly give your opinion. You don’t have to respond right away. If you don’t have a plan for taking control of the situation, your best move is to just do nothing. Often it is much better not to play than to play someone else’s game. The famed author Robert Greene (wrote bestsellers The 48 Laws of Power and The 33 Strategies of War) uses a powerful concept that he calls “tactical hell” to describe the state in which many people live today.
Greene describes tactical hell here: "[Tactical] hell consists of all of the people around us who are vying for power or some kind of control, and whose actions intersect our lives in a thousand different directions. We are constantly having to react to what this person does or says, getting emotional in the process. Once you sink into this hell, it is very difficult to raise your mind above it. You are dealing with one battle after another, and none of them end with any resolution. It is very hard for you to see the hell for what it is; you are too close to it, too mired in it to think of any other way. Because there are so many people now vying for power in this world, and our attentions are so distracted in many different directions, this dynamic only gets worse and worse." For Greene, tactical hell is any situation in which we are left reacting to the actions and reactions of the people or things that influence our lives. That long debate you’re having on Facebook with some troll – that’s tactical hell. That recurring argument you have with your significant other about some facet of your relationship – that’s tactical hell. That crowded competition you have with other businesses in your market – that’s tactical hell. That long-term struggle you have with maintaining a good diet and losing weight – that’s tactical hell. The problem with tactical hell is that no matter how smart or clever we are, no matter how educated our perspective is, no matter how persistent we are, we don’t really get anywhere. The person we’re arguing against still isn’t convinced. The argument with the significant other never really goes away, and may even drive separation or resentment. The competition never abates. Your weight fluctuates – getting lower some months and higher other months. Hell is not simply some horrible place – at least that, you can make better. Rather, hell is having to endure a situation that can’t get better. A situation in which nothing really changes. Sun Tzu teaches that the ideal of strategy is not to have the best moves, to use the best tactics, to be clever or smart. The ideal is to control the situation, to be in a position where you can choose the direction you want to go, where you can make others react to you. It’s not to win the online debate, to win the argument over your significant other, to destroy the competition, or to lose weight. The idea is to have an open, productive conversation, a flow of ideas. To improve the relationship. To provide unique solutions to problems in your market. To improve your health and energy. When you spend so much on reacting to other people or situations, then you’re letting them control the situation. The way out of tactical hell is to gain a higher perspective about what you’re really trying to achieve. "Before battle, yet in the temple, one predicts victory, having obtained calculations for an excess [of advantages]."
- Sun Tzu "Learn on the ground, reflect in the temple" is a mantra I try to remind myself often whenever I find myself thinking too much about my future. Oftentimes, when I’m thinking too much, I just end up getting depressed. The basic premise is this: In the everyday grind of life, that’s when you should be observing, taking notes, learning new skills - in short, gathering intelligence. Then, each day, take a step back and assess:
Then go back to the grind and act accordingly. Both learning on the ground and reflecting in the temple are essential: they complement each other. If you learn too much on the ground without reflecting, then while you may be enjoying life and keeping yourself busy, you eventually end up feeling lost, without a sense of future. On the other hand, if you reflect too much in the temple without learning and experiencing on the ground, then you’ll find yourself getting depressed with how much you’re just standing still, not doing anything but evaluating your life's direction and making dreams. Learning on the ground is about taking control of the present; reflecting in the temple is about taking control of the future. Keep a healthy balance between the two, and you’ll find yourself accomplishing great things. "Move if there is advantage, stop if there is not."
– Sun Tzu This is one of my favorite quotes from Sun Tzu. To me, it encapsulates his whole philosophy on taking action: don’t take a certain action unless it will move you forward. So many times in life, we take action without thinking about the cost or whether it will lead somewhere. We react emotionally to situations without a second thought. We argue without thinking through our position. We eat without thinking through our diet. We commit to doing a task or favor without thinking through the consequences. We add a feature to our product without thinking through its usefulness. It’s one thing to do something knowing there is a risk of failure. It’s another thing to do something that is just pointless. Of course, knowing what will move you forward depends on knowing where you want to be, but even if you don’t know, just stop and think. A few seconds of thinking is worth whatever cost you’re willing to blindly pay. |
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