"Anger can return to happiness. Resentment can return to content."
- Sun Tzu

If there were a list of emotions to describe how many people feel in today's world, anger would probably be near the top of the list. Everyone feels angry - angry at the government, at the opposing political party, at greedy corporations, at our neighbors, at our bosses or coworkers, at our spouses, at life in general.

Even more, we all tend to feel justified in feeling angry. We all feel justified in cursing the person who cuts us off or yelling at the "idiot" online who spouts something "ignorant" in the comments section. We all feel like the world is crazy or unjust and we're the only sane or moral ones.

For Sun Tzu, however, no emotion is more destructive to acquiring a sense of peace and security (what he calls an) than anger. In war, anger makes us act rashly, put ourselves and others at risk, and ultimately undermine what we are trying to accomplish.

But just what is anger? Why is it so dangerous? And what can we learn from The Art of War in trying to control our anger so that we can cultivate stillness and calm in our lives? The following are three lessons I've learnt from Sun Tzu on controlling my anger:

1. Understand the source of your anger. Understand what anger is and deep, emotional need it stems from inside you.
2. Shift your values. Move away from the idea that you have to take revenge on the person that causes your anger. Focus instead on what you will actually gain from (not) taking a certain action.
3. Make controlling your anger a game. Reward yourself on your ability to control your anger. View this ability as an essential skill in achieving happiness and success in life, with showing compassion for people who irritate or bother you as the ultimate sign of this skill.

​Let's view each lesson in depth.

Lesson 1: Understand the source of your anger
The first step to controlling one's anger is to understand what it is and where it comes from.

Truth is, anger is a difficult emotion to define. Everyone knows what anger looks like - yelling, cursing, insulting, violent outbursts, rage. But this is simply how anger manifests itself. Something deeper is going on.

Quite simply, anger is an emotion that occurs when something doesn't go the way we believe it should go, or want or "need" it to go. It is our emotional reaction to when someone or something violates an underlying belief we have about how the world should or needs to operate world.

All anger betrays a hidden ideal - one we are emotionally invested in and feel the world should conform to. When you get angry, for example, at someone cutting you off in traffic, your reaction betrays an underlying belief in a standard of behavior on the road where people should drive respectfully and safely, not carelessly or selfishly.

Thus, anger is usually tied to a feeling of justice. We feel justified in showing our displeasure at others (honking, giving the finger, yelling, etc.) - to make them feel discomfort or even pain at having violated our ideal.

Even deeper, though, is what a person or thing's violation of our ideal means to us, on a deep, albeit unconscious level. The ideals we hold about how the world should operate usually relate to our emotional wants and needs - whether we are conscious of this or not. Thus, someone violating our ideals demonstrates, to us, a lack of care for - or even a refusal to care for - our emotional wants and needs.

So, for example, our angry response at someone cutting us off in traffic reveals an emotional need for respect. Our angry response at an opposing political party reveals our need to be considered and recognized. Our angry response at losing a game reveals our underlying need to win, to conquer, to be seen as the best.

Thus, if you want to control your anger, the first thing to do is understand what's the source of your anger. Ask yourself:

• What are the situations that tend to get me angry? Why?
• What standard or expectation do I have that gets me angry when someone or something violates it?
• What does this standard or expectation reveal about my own emotional needs?

Write your response down and take some time to reflect and see if it rings true. For myself, I tend to get angry when I feel people question or insult my intelligence (e.g. with sarcasm). This reveals a deep emotional need to have people recognize my intelligence, how smart I am.

Going through these questions won't get rid of your anger, but it puts distance between you and your anger, giving you more power over it. 

Lesson 2: Shift your values
For Sun Tzu, anger is dangerous for two reasons:

1. Anger betrays an underlying difficulty with accepting reality. When you are angry, you are literally struggling with accepting the fact that someone cut you off or forgot to call you back or ignored you, etc. Behind every instance of anger is disbelief. Staying too long in anger only extends this difficulty with accepting things as they are, thus not allowing us to adapt to the actual reality we are facing. In war, this is very dangerous, as anger can cloud our understanding and lead us to make rash or faulty decision-making, rising lives and the security of the nation.
2. Anger leads you towards destructive behavior. Anger always tends to make us more aggressive, more violent, more vengeful, more willing to dole out insult or pain. For Sun Tzu, the general's aim is not to destroy the enemy - that takes up precious resources. Rather, the aim is to win without battle, making the nation stronger and more secure than it was before the conflict. Sometimes this requires making peace with one's enemy, reducing any tensions or animosity. Acting from anger, however, undermines this; doing it will only intensify the tension, not de-escalate it.

Given this, there are two questions we need to ask ourselves: How do I stop myself from getting angry? And if I do get angry, how do I stop myself from acting from anger?

For Sun Tzu, preventing yourself from getting angry requires shifting your values. The reason why we indulge anger, letting it boil until we react, is because we value revenge or aggression in the face of someone violating our standards or expectations. We feel justified in taking action against someone.

The problem is that taking revenge does very little to make you stronger, better, or more secure later. This is the value you need to focus on and cultivate in your daily life: making gains. As Sun Tzu tells us, "Killing the enemy is a matter of anger. Taking the enemy's advantages is a matter of profit."

For Sun Tzu, the wise general doesn't value death or destruction, but profit and security. He isn't focused on how to get the enemy back or whether the enemy's situation is worse. Rather, he focuses on whether he and his army have made or can make any gains. He asks: Are we stronger? Is our position more secure? Are we in a better position to attack and win? Do we have a greater advantage over the enemy?

Sun Tzu gives us a simple rule:

"If there is no advantage, do not move. If there is nothing to gain, do not mobilize. If there is no danger, do not battle."

The wise general never acts from anger, but only from profit - the ability to actually gain advantage or make progress.

In your own life, you must ask yourself continually: Am I getting better? Am I getting smarter? Am I more confident? Will taking this action give me greater or lesser peace or security?

The more you think from the perspective of making gains, the harder it will be to stay angry or get angry in the first place. You'll realize that getting angry will gain you nothing, even if it means hurting whoever got you upset. The enemy losing doesn't mean anything. What matters is only if you have gained something - something positive, helpful, useful.

Lesson 3: Make controlling your anger a game
Of course, there will be times when you will get angry and you will be tempted to act from your anger. In these situations, Sun Tzu suggests making a game of your situation.

For Sun Tzu, one of the best ways to gain in war is by stealing the opponent's resources. Thus, he advises a general to create a system where the first unit to capture enemy soldiers or enemy weapons will get a reward. In addition, he advises the general to instruct his soldiers to value the enemy's food as if it were worth twenty times their own food.

You too can apply the same principle to your own life. In my own life, for example, one game I play is that I give myself a point if, when I am angry or irritated because of something someone says or does, I simply am able to keep my cool and not say anything in response. If I can leave that situation without arguing or saying something sarcastic, I get one point. I give myself two points if I can even be nice to person.

The ultimate test of your skill in controlling your anger is if you can cultivate compassion for those with whom you're angry. So one game, if you want to get better at this, is, when you're feeling angry or annoyed at someone, to try to see things from the other person's perspective or situation. Ask yourself: maybe this person had a bad day, or this person was not raised the same way, or this person is not trying to be malicious but just made an honest mistake. Or maybe - just maybe - this person may actually have a point, something to be considered.

In short, understanding the source of your anger, shifting your values and focus, and playing these kinds of anger control games are useful in getting you to shift away from revenge or violence and move towards Sun Tzu's ultimate goal - strength and security (an).

"Just as water follows the ground, which determines its flow, the army responds to the enemy, who determines its victory."
- Sun Tzu

One of the most powerful, yet confusing aspects of Sun Tzu's philosophy is his prescription to take up a "formless position" when facing the enemy. It reminds one of the Zen notion of "becoming like water" and "emptying one's mind."

But the advice to be "formless" is not simply philosophical or mystical - it is meant to be practical advice for how to engage an opponent. For Sun Tzu, one's strategy for dealing with an enemy depends heavily on the enemy - on avoiding where the enemy is strong and attacking where he is weak.

Thus, being formless, for Sun Tzu, is essentially about not coming into battle with a game plan or a pre-defined strategy. It involves watching and listening to the opponent, seeing where the enemy's force is weakest or is unprepared, and then uniting one's force against those critical points.

In other words, being formless is about being responsive to the enemy - following his changes, adapting to his movements, and determining the appropriate response to his situation.

In life, the principle is just as powerful and critical to your success. Too often we are given the advice about "focusing on what you can control, not what you can't." For Sun Tzu, only the first half of that is true: we should definitely understand what we can and do control - the resources, skills, and capabilities we are able to use to push ourselves forward.

But we should never simply "ignore" or be "indifferent" to what goes on outside of our control. Our fate is tied to the system in which we live. It affects our lives, our sense of control.

Rather, we should always be responsive to things outside our control. Of course, not attached to them. Not hoping or expecting things were different (a surefire way to make yourself miserable). But we should be observant, attentive, and ready to act when the time is right.

So, for example, you may not be able to control your partner's response to bad news you need to give him, but paying attention to his moods and perspective would go a long way into determining when's the best time to give him the news as well as how to deliver it.

You may not be able to control whether the stock market is up or down, but understanding the factors that cause it to go up and down and following these factors would be helpful in determining when to buy a certain stock. As famed investor Warren Buffett tells us, the secret to investing is to "be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful." When people are fearful, that is, when they are selling - that's when we should be buying.

You may not be able to control whether that hiring manager hires you for the job. But understanding the newest move his competitor has just done to undermine the company's position would be very useful in determining what you say in that interview.  

No decision or response you make can ever guarantee a certain outcome. But neither should that be the goal. By continually being responsive to the changing moods, cycles, and situations of the people and environment around you, you are strengthening your ability to increase your effectiveness, adapt to change, and ultimately come out on top.

Understanding how the philosophy behind The Art of War can apply to your life can be tricky. Though the book is fairly accessible, it is easy to miss the philosophical depth and practical wisdom behind the aphoristic or common-sensical style of the text.

The truth is, Sun Tzu's philosophy is based on the successful strategies of skilled warriors throughout Ancient Chinese history. It is based on tried and true methods that offer practical insight for everyday life.

In studying and applying Sun Tzu's The Art of War for over twenty years, I've come to realize that his battle-tested philosophy is built on three simple, yet fundamental propositions, or claims, each one building off the one before. These propositions can be stated as follows:

1. All life is struggle.
2. Achieving and maintaining true happiness in life comes from cultivating a sense of an - that is, a deep sense of peace, calm, and security with one’s place in life.
3. Cultivating a strong, stable sense of an in life requires a commitment to following the path (fa) of the skilled warrior (shàn zhàn zhě).​

Let's look at each proposition in greater depth.

Proposition I: All life is struggle.
For Sun Tzu as well as the Ancient Chinese, all processes and systems in the universe are essentially governed by chaos (luan). Such chaos, however, is not the absence of order. Rather, it is the absence of stable orders. A great example of this is the weather (what Sun Tzu calls  Tian, or "Heaven"), which, though unpredictable, produces powerful orders of force like hurricanes, tornadoes, and blizzards.

Some orders in the universe may be short (such as the life of a fly), and some may be extremely long, like the life of a star. But regardless, any order in the universe is transient and ever-changing, the result of an underlying chaos - the random movement and interaction of atomic particles.

Scientifically speaking, chaos can be defined as an overall expression of the second law of thermodynamics - i.e. that all processes tend towards equilibrium, increasing the level of entropy, or disorder, in all systems. The continual increase of entropy in a system creates instability within the system, causing the system itself, as well as any systems connected to it, to continuously change.

Such instability inherent in the world produces continual challenges, conflict, and competition for all living beings, including human beings, who are both dependent upon the system in which they live and agents with a degree of control, however small, within this system.

These struggles occur for the individual both internally (physiologically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually) and externally (survival, relationships, government, etc.). We struggle with our coworkers, our spouses, our children, our bosses, our competitors. We struggle with organizing our lives, staying productive, getting healthy and fit, overcoming anxiety and self-doubt, controlling our finances, starting and finishing projects, staying focused, finding time for ourselves, and so on.

Life, therefore, is a daily, unceasing war.

Proposition II: Achieving and maintaining true happiness in life comes from cultivating an - that is, a deep sense of peace, calm, and security with the place one is at in life.
The goal of philosophy - it is generally agreed - is to guide one in living a truly happy, fulfilling life. Ancient philosophers have argued about what makes one truly happy - from following a life of pleasure (Epicureanism) to living a life of virtue (Stoicism) to harmony with one's environment (Taoism) to enlightenment and self-discipline (Buddhism).

The Sun Tzu Way introduces a new way of understanding the path to happiness, one that stems from Proposition I above - that life is struggle.

As animals that have evolved within this system of chaos and struggle called life, we have a deeply embedded need for a sense of stability and control in our lives, what scientists refer to as allostasis. We all strive to feel a sense of peace, calm, and security in our lives - what Sun Tzu refers to as an.

This need for an forms the basis for our sense of happiness and fulfillment. In general, when we do not feel in control of our lives - over our relationships, our circumstances, our future - we feel miserable, which is both psychological and physiological. When we do not feel in control of our ability to satisfy basic needs (shelter, safety, comfort), our personal needs (love, growth, certainty), and our spiritual needs (purpose, self-actualization, contribution), we feel unhappy and unfulfilled.

On the other hand, when we feel in greater control over lives - over our ability to manage and satisfy these human needs - we feel happier, calmer, more stable, more secure.

In short, happiness is not the result of following a life of pleasure or excitement. Nor is it about achieving great things or even having mastery of oneself. While these aspects are valuable in enhancing our sense of happiness, the goal of life is producing a stable state of an - of calm, peace, security.

Of course, an is not something one achieves once and it remains one’s whole life. Rather, it is something that needs to be cultivated and deepened regularly as change is a constant part of life.

Proposition III: Cultivating a strong, stable sense of an in one’s life requires adhering to the code (Fa) of the skilled warrior (shàn zhàn zhě).
The big predicament we face in striving to cultivate an is that life is constantly changing. Resources become more or less available, competition increases, and thus, maintaining a sense of stability and control can be tricky.

As such, if philosophy is going to be a guide towards living a happy, fulfilled life, then we need a philosophy that realistically allows us to increase our sense of control over lives. This is where the Sun Tzu Way comes in.

Sun Tzu's The Art of War was written to guide rulers and generals in managing their nation in the face of chaos and instability. At the time the text was written, China was broken up into different states, with each state shifting alliances and attacking each other due to survival (if a smaller state) or power over the other states (if a larger state).

Thus, a state is in a constant state of anxiety, especially if they are smaller. As a ruler, you would never know who your ally or enemy was. Alliances were constantly forming and threats could loom from anywhere. If you were a small state, you could easily be swallowed up by a larger state if you were not careful.

For this reason, The Art of War was written to give rulers the principles for conducting war under these conditions, particularly if you are a smaller state. It advises rulers, and their generals, to follow the path (fa) of the skilled warrior (shàn zhàn zhě).

The phrase "skilled warrior" is Sun Tzu’s term for generals in the past who were able to achieve subtle, simple, and relatively bloodless victories that ultimately served to make their nation stronger and more secure. Sun Tzu calls these types of skilled victories quan sheng - or “total victories.”

Sun Tzu's military philosophy serves as the basis for understanding our own lives. Like the rulers in Sun Tzu's time, we also face a dynamic competitive, ever-changing world. We struggle to maintain a continual sense of stability and control that satisfies our mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. By analogy, therefore, we can benefit from also following the principles and tools of the skilled warrior. This is the source of the Sun Tzu Way.

With the Sun Tzu Way, following the way of the skilled warrior in life means determining which struggles are worth one's time, which to avoid, and how to deal with any struggle one must face so that one ends up better, more secure than before. This is how you consistently create total victories, or quan sheng, in your own life.

In its deepest form, the way of the skilled warrior follows a distinct code, which has five key components:

1. Following the path. This involves understanding the way (Tao) of cultivating an. This way unfolds in three distinct stages, or phases - purpose (yi), preparation (yu), and progress (jin).
2. Honoring the values. This involves understanding the ideal qualities you are aiming to bring about for yourself and others in following the path. These values are clarity (ming), readiness (dai), and wholeness (quan).
3. Observing the principles. This involves understanding how to deal with the obstacles, struggles, and opportunities that will inevitably come along your way as you follow the path. These principles are cohesion (he), concealment (cang), and control (zhi quan).  
4. Cultivating the virtues. This involves understanding the qualities you need to be a strong leader and to stay committed to walking the path. These virtues are wisdom (zhi), credibility (xin), compassion (ren), courage (yong), and discipline (yan).
5. Mastering the way. Lastly, this involves developing the toolset - the knowledge, skills, and capabilities - necessary not simply to follow the path, but thrive on the path. This toolset consists of the three disciplines of war - calculation (ji), positioning (xing), and timing (jie).

The way of the skilled warrior serves to ensure that we achieve, in all our major struggles, quan sheng - that is, victories that leave us better off after a challenge or struggle than we were before. This is key to cultivating and enjoying  a life of an - peace, calm, and security.

Such is the Sun Tzu Way.

The Sun Tzu Way is, at its core, designed to be a practical philosophy of life. As such, there are a number of practices or exercises you can implement in your life to give you greater clarity, calm, and confidence. In my own life, there are five exercises I try to use on a regular basis:

1. Cultivate your Tao
2. Find your high ground
3. Play the spy
4. Contemplate the dangers
5. Put yourself on death ground

Let's look at each exercise in depth.

EXERCISE 1: CULTIVATE YOUR TAO
"A skilled military operation cultivates the Tao, yet preserves the Methods. Thus, one can become master of victory and defeat."
- Sun Tzu

For Sun Tzu, Tao, or the Way, refers to one's sense of purpose - what one is trying to do or achieve and why. To cultivate your Tao means to regularly bring it to mind, see its application in everything you do, and to adjust your understanding of it with new experiences. In other words, it's to live and breathe it. 

For me, I cultivate my Tao by reviewing and editing my personal philosophy statement on a regular basis (usually every week or so). This statement is a document on my Google Drive that outlines:

• What I feel I'm on this planet to do
• My values
• My aspirations
• My main priorities

Not everything I do will align with this statement. But reviewing it regularly, I am able to see if I'm going off track and if I need to reduce some responsibilities or habits. It helps to keep my eye on the ball.

You don't need to follow my statement, but I suggest that you also have a personal philosophy statement and that you review it regularly.

EXERCISE 2: FIND YOUR HIGH GROUND
"In general, the winning army prefers the high ground and hates the low, values the sunny side and despises the dark."
- Sun Tzu

Life can be stressful and chaotic at times. It can be demoralizing, anxiety-provoking, and frustrating. It can throw you challenge after challenge until you just want to disengage, procrastinate, lash out in anger, or complain.

For Sun Tzu, true strength comes from a calm, focused mind. As he tells us, "Using discipline, await disorder. Using calm, await clamor. Such is managing the mind." When the world throws obstacle after obstacle at you, you must approach each with a steady mind.

Getting to a calm, focused place requires what I call "finding your high ground." Just as Sun Tzu advises positioning the army on the high, sunny ground where the army has greater visibility, finding your high ground means using a reliable practice that you know always helps give you a sense of clarity and calm.

For example, some people gain clarity when they go out for a run. Some people gain it through cleaning or organizing their space. Others gain it by brainstorming or doing a to-do list.

Personally, I gain it by wrestling with my thoughts and frustrations, either on a long walk or through writing my thoughts down. In talking to myself, I start to articulate my problems and feel greater clarity in dealing with them.

Whatever your practice is, you need to clearly define it and use it whenever you feel stressed, anxious, upset, or frustrated. Doing it may not solve your problem, but it will help get you into a headspace where you have the clarity and confidence to deal with it. 

EXERCISE 3: PLAY THE SPY
"What enables the enlightened rulers and good generals to conquer the enemy at every move and achieve extraordinary success is foreknowledge."
- Sun Tzu

For Sun Tzu, knowledge is the key to any kind of success. And for him, it does no good to try to gain knowledge just when you need it the most. This is why, in his time, leaders would have a network of spies already in place to inform them of any important information that may threaten their nation's security.

Likewise, so that you are never caught unaware, you need to play the spy yourself. You must always be listening to things that may help or hurt your situation. This is how you gain wisdom (zhi).

Playing the spy doesn't mean that you are trying to "uncover" secret information from others or anything insidious like that. Rather it means always being observant and vigilant. It means

• listening more than you talk, and listening between the lines of what people are saying
• paying attention to body language, tone, and other nonverbal cues in conversation
• capturing useful information - from books, from videos, from conversations - and storing it in a place where you can access or review later
• asking probing questions about what a person feels or thinks and refraining as much as possible from butting in with your own opinions or thoughts. 

Playing the spy also can be turned to yourself. You can use it to capture your thoughts and feelings in a journal or diary, or to ask probing questions like, "Why do I feel this way? Where does this feeling come from? Why did I react like that? Why do I think x, y, z?"  

In my own life, for example, I use my notes app on my phone to write down suggestions people say, thoughts I'm having, resources to read later on, pieces of a conversation that stick with me.

Overall, the motto of a good spy is, "Every interaction is an opportunity to learn." Repeating this motto to yourself is a good way to stay observant and keep on the lookout for opportunities or dangers that may be lurking about.

EXERCISE 4: CONTEMPLATE THE DANGERS
"Therefore, one who does not fully know the dangers of using the army cannot fully know the advantages of using the army."
- Sun Tzu

This exercise involves accounting for the risks or dangers involved in taking on any endeavor - whether it be a project, a goal, or an idea - before you take on the endeavor. For Sun Tzu, it's by contemplating the dangers of the endeavor that we can actually strengthen our plans and thus increase our likelihood of success.

Afraid you won't know what to talk about on a date? Write up a list of topics and questions to ask if the conversation dries up.

Worried that the hiring manager for an interview may ask why you're leaving your current job, which you hate? Come up with a strong response that explains your decision to advance your career.

Worried that a project at work may derail? Set up regular check-ins to monitor progress.

There's a second benefit to contemplating the dangers: it prepares you for the possibility that things can, and probably will, go wrong. It reminds you that nothing ever goes smoothly and you will encounter hiccups on the way. Being ready for that keeps you sharp and ready to adapt.

EXERCISE 5: PUT YOURSELF ON DEATH GROUND
"On death ground, fight."
- Sun Tzu

Although the Sun Tzu Way is, at its core, a philosophy of life, in many ways, it is also a reflection on death. For Sun Tzu, war is a grave matter. Not only are soldiers' lives at stake, but the lives of the people.

But death, for Sun Tzu, can also be a unifying force that pressures the army to focus their energy and fight with full strength. At the heel of death, even cowardly soldiers become courageous, since they have nothing to lose. This is why Sun Tzu tells us that the role of the general is throw his soldiers into danger.

You too can put yourself on death ground and let it motivate you to go all in on an endeavor. In my own life, I try to put myself on death ground by regularly practicing memento mori (a Latin phrase that translates to "Remember you will die"). It's an ancient practice that involves keeping death at the forefront of your mind by imagining your death or meditating on your mortality. Although it sounds morbid, the idea is to remind yourself that life is fleeting and that if you want to accomplish something, you have to move now before it's too late.

Another way to put yourself on death ground is to give yourself tight deadlines on projects or goals (the deadlines should make you uncomfortable), and to have some big consequence (e.g. giving money to an organization whose values you despise, taking a bet) if you fail to complete or achieve the project or goal.

In Western culture, there is usually a separation between risk and reward. One strives for the reward despite the risks. One braves the journey despite ​the dangers. One strives to win that marathon despite the risk of exhaustion. One strives to climb the mountain despite the risk of death due to injury, climate, starvation. One strives to publish one’s book despite the risk of no one wanting to buy it.

With this mindset, it is the commitment to achieving the reward that is seen as the primary reason for success. It’s the commitment to getting to that finish line, reaching the top of that mountain, getting on that bestsellers list.

For Sun Tzu, on the other hand, there is an important relationship between risk and reward. As Sun Tzu tells us, “One who does not fully know the dangers of using the army cannot fully know the advantages of using the army.”

In other words, risk and reward, danger and advantage, are inversely related. It is by calculating and managing or eliminating the risks that one actually reaps the reward. This is what Sun Tzu refers to as "contemplating the dangers."

So, for example, it is by running daily, working one’s way up to running multiple marathons in practice, understanding the dangers involved and mitigating these dangers, that one actually is able to get to the end of the marathon.

It is by imagining and predicting all the potential disasters of climbing a mountain, studying all that one can of the territory and what has stopped people before, and creating a plan that deals with those potential disasters, that one actually has a much greater chance of making it to the top.

It is by understanding one’s market intimately, garnering enough committed interest in one’s book before one publishes, that one actually creates a bestselling book.

With this mindset, the commitment to achieving the reward isn’t the primary reason for success. Rather, it’s the commitment to creating a strong plan. Such a plan must be guided by the risks and dangers you may face on your journey to success.

In short, the idea behind good planning is not to achieve success, but to make success feasible. Once it’s feasible, then all that’s required is the commitment (and willingness to adapt) to make success happen.

We've talked before about the importance of purpose as a fundamental principle of the Sun Tzu Way. Purpose - or what Sun Tzu calls Tao, or the Way - is about understanding and articulating your aspirations, values, and priorities - what you want to achieve and why. It sets the path (or Way) forward, and is essential in developing unity and focus.

But in truth, purpose is not a singular concept. According to Gary Gagliardi, a well-known translator of The Art of War and commenter on Sun Tzu's work as it relates to business, there are actually three levels to purpose.

The first, and lowest, level is economic. This is the level of getting the resources needed to survive and maintain a relative state of stability and comfort in one's life.

The second level is professional. This is the level of developing our unique skills and talents, building pride and confidence in ourselves, and gaining recognition, credibility, and success. The idea is to understand and prove what we are capable.

The last level is spiritual. This is the level of improving, impacting, or transforming our lives and the lives of those we care about. This level is the strongest level because it extends beyond yourself. It demonstrates compassion (ren) - your ability to see other people's struggles and your desire to make the world a better place.

In general, the higher your clearest level of purpose is, the more meaningful that purpose is -that is to say, the more enlightening and thus guiding that purpose is. Thus, your professional purpose, if clear, will naturally enlighten and guide your economic purpose, and your spiritual purpose is more meaningful than professional purpose.

All of us operate on the three levels of purpose. The problem is that most people are only clear about level one (economic) or two (professional). Most of us understand that in order to survive and live a decent life, we need to have a consistent job that pays the bills. This is economic purpose.

Some of us who are lucky also understand that having a job that we enjoy and feel pride in involves choosing a career that engages and supports our unique skills, talents, and interests. This is professional purpose.

But it is a rare few of us who have a clear understanding for what change we want to have on others. For how we want to transform a field or industry. For how we want to impact the world. It is this last level that gives us genuine fulfillment in life.

In your own life, think about these three levels. Ask yourself in this order:

1. What is my spiritual purpose? What am I meant to change or improve in the world?
2. Given my spiritual purpose, what is my professional purpose? What skills and capabilities do I need to hone or develop? What career path shall I take and what's required to get on it?
   
3. Given my professional purpose, what is my economic purpose? What quality of life do I want to have for myself? What choices will I need to make to support the career path I need to take?
   

Keep in mind, you may have more than one spiritual purpose, and thus, more than one professional purpose, and more than one economic purpose. For example, your spiritual purposes may be to change the medical industry and be loving partner and caring parent. All three of these require different skill sets (and different education), and may require different economic needs.

The goal, though, is to be clear on these spiritual purposes. It is through clarity on each level that the Way becomes apparent.

The Sun Tzu Way is, at its core, a philosophy of life. It provides a practical framework that users can use to not only overcome the challenges they face in life, but live a better life - one that is filled with greater calm, serenity, and happiness.

In studying The Art of War and developing my own understanding of the Sun Tzu Way, I've come to realize that there are five core tenets of the Sun Tzu Way. While belief in these tenets is not necessary by any means in order to utilize the principles and strategies, these tenets help provide a foundation for understanding why the Sun Tzu Way is so powerful and relevant to our lives.

These five tenets, in short, are

1. Change is inevitable.
2. Life is war.
3. There's no such thing as absolute control.
4. Every action bears a cost.
5. Strategy is the Way.

Each tenet relates in some way to one of the five factors that influence or determine your situation. Let's review each tenet in greater depth.

Tenet 1: Change is inevitable.
For Sun Tzu, change is a natural, inevitable feature of life. Indeed, the word Sun Tzu gives for the factor that governs change is Tian, or Heaven. Thus, the forces of change are like ordained by the gods - completely beyond our control. It is responsible for the rotation of the seasons, the weather, the temperature, and the time of day.

In your own life, change is also inevitable. Every day, you grow older, and so do the people around you. The habits, thoughts, and opinions you had when you were younger will certainly transform as you get older. The tastes or fads that were popular in your culture will eventually be replaced or transform. 

For Sun Tzu, change can either be the source of weakness, if you're not prepared, or opportunity, if you are. Thus, the skilled warrior (shàn zhàn zhě) of life not only accepts change, but embraces it. She sees in it the opportunities for growth and security - but only if she is prepared.

Tenet 2: Life is war.
The nature of change leads us to our second tenet: that life itself is war. Because change is the source of opportunities, competition is a natural consequence. People will always compete for better opportunities, especially if their situation has been worsened by change.

In addition, we are naturally resistant to change. While change is natural and the source of opportunities, it also brings with it danger and risk. Not all change is good, even if it is inevitable. Thus, conflict is also a natural consequence to change.

As such, the factor that governs this tenet is the Ground. The Ground, for Sun Tzu, encompasses both what we compete on and what we compete for. It influences our situation and determines the quality of our options.

In your own life, it is easy to see that life is full of struggle. We struggle with the people in our lives, our circumstances, even our own selves. We struggle to learn, to change our attitudes, to advance our careers. Everything is a struggle in life. This is inescapable.

The skilled warrior of life embraces this fact. He prepares his mind to deal with the challenges he inevitably is going to face. He knows that with every struggle he overcomes, another one is around the corner. So he is always vigilant, always careful about the struggles he faces.

Tenet 3: There's no such thing as absolute control.
For Sun Tzu, in war, one can never have absolute control over anything - one can only have more or less control in a situation than the enemy. Even more, if one has the ability to control what the enemy perceives, then one has greater control, or influence, over the enemy's decision-making.

Thus, for Sun Tzu, control is a matter of degree and largely a matter of perception. We cannot completely control our situation, but we can gain advantages that give us more control or influence over our situation. To whatever degree we can increase our control, the better the outcome will be for us.

The factor that guides this tenet is the General. Because the General controls the decision-making of the army, he must continually evaluate his options and make choices that gradually increase the army's ability to control its fate. He must constantly look for opportunities brought on by Heaven and calculate the best time to move forward.

In your own life, the same idea runs true. While your actions and thoughts are, to a degree, within your control, this control is not absolute. Your thoughts, your actions, your emotional responses, your values - these are heavily influenced by forces beyond your control. These forces are biological, social, psychodynamic, cultural, historical, institutional, and economic. Your choices are never completely your own.

On the flip side, you have more control or influence over your environment than you think. The things you say and do can affect others in profound ways. You are as much a part of your environment as it is a part of you.

The skilled warrior of life does not seek absolute control, not even over herself. Rather, she accepts that the vast majority of forces in her life are outside of her control. What she focuses on is how to exercise the control she knows she has so that she can gradually increase it. The motto she follows in life is: "Strive to end up better than before." 

Tenet 4: Every action bears a cost.
For Sun Tzu, running and mobilizing an army costs resources. Not just money, but time, effort, equipment, weapons, and even lives. This is another reason why life is war: resources are limited. This increases the need for competition.

For Sun Tzu, the factor that governs this tenet is Methods. The wise and disciplined general understands how to manage his resources, including money, lines of communication, and his soldiers. His organization is focused on efficiency and effectiveness, using the enemy's resources when possible to not only supply his men, but to make war more expensive for the enemy. He uses training and simple communications to avoid confusion. And he avoid direct conflict with the enemy as much as possible.

Likewise, in your own life, you need Methods that support what you are trying to do. You need efficient and effective practices, systems, principles, and techniques that you can rely on in different situations.

Developing the efficient and effective methods requires education. It requires study and access to information. Thus, the skilled warrior of life understands that information is an expense that is always worth paying when it comes to reducing costs. He always seeks intelligence before making decisions and uses the appropriate methods based on this.

Tenet 5: Strategy is the Way.
The need for increasing control and managing costs is what makes strategy an essential tool for moving from where you are to where you want to be. For Sun Tzu, strategy is the bridge between aspiration and action. It outlines not only what you're trying to achieve, but how you understand you will get there. It determines your priorities and guiding principles.

The factor that governs this tenet is Tao, or the Way. The Way guides the Methods as well as the General's understanding of the Ground and Heaven. It is the unifying principle that brings the soldiers, officers, general, people, and rulers together, giving meaning to the war they are facing and what is at stake.

In your own life, strategic thinking is just as important for you as it is for Sun Tzu's general. You are the leader of your life. You need to make choices that maximize your control and serve your overall aspirations. You need to understand what is at stake with every struggle you face. You need to take strategy seriously.

The skilled warrior of life understands that to achieve her goals and aspirations, she needs to think strategically. She always strives to understand the obstacles in her path and is willing to be ruthless in trying to eliminate them. She doesn't make excuses for why she is not progressing. Rather, she adjusts her understanding and adapts to the situation.

That is the way of the skilled warrior.  

At its core, The Art of War is a book of principles to be adapted to one's specific situation. It serves as an operating system for making strategic decisions. Utilizing this operating system involves asking the right questions.    

In applying The Art of War to my own life, there is a simple four-step process I rely on when encountering a challenge or stressful situation. I call it the SPAR approach, which stands for Situation, Principle, Action, and Results. To be more specific you must:

1. Clarify your situation.
2. Determine which principle(s) of the Sun Tzu Way you need to focus on.
3. Determine a plan of action for following the principle(s) needed.
4. Review the results of your action(s).

Just as in martial arts, where you develop your skills through continually sparring, the SPAR approach represents a continuous loop. The more often you go through the steps, the deeper your understanding of your situation, how the principles apply, and which actions to take, and gradually your situation will improve.

Let's look at each step in greater depth.

SITUATION
Sun Tzu painstakingly describes many types of situations one can face, but generally, there are three kinds of difficult or challenging situations you will face in life, all of which start with the letter "C": conflicts, competitions, and confrontations.

Conflicts are situations where there is a lack of agreement, consensus, or alignment between you and some other party. In general, there are external conflicts (either with one person or multiple people) and internal conflicts (a conflict within yourself).

An example of an external conflict would be a disagreement with your significant other, or a difference in vision between you and your business team. An example of an internal conflict would be your desire to eat that second piece of chocolate cake after dinner when you know you shouldn't.

Competitions are situations where you must contend with one or more parties for some sort of advantage or reward. A sports competition is an easy example, but other forms of competition could be over a client or a job position. You could also compete with yourself, trying to do a better performance than you did before.

Confrontations are situations where you must invest or risk resources (time, energy, effort, goodwill, money, etc.) in trying to resolve a critical issue, or else things won't get better (and most likely will get worse). Confrontations can be with people (an employee you have to fire, a family member who has a drug problem), but not necessarily. A burst pipe in your basement is an example of a confrontation.

You can also have a confrontation with yourself - for example, if you have a drinking or gambling problem.

These three situations are not mutually exclusive; often, you'll have a combo of two or three. For example, a disagreement with your spouse can lead to a confrontation. Or a confrontation with a coworker can develop into a competition.

Interestingly enough, when it comes to the Sun Tzu Way, each of these situation relate directly to the core phase you are in. So conflict situations, for example, deal with issues in the purpose phase. They deal with a lack of shared purpose between you and the other party.

Competitions, on the other hand, signal a potential issue with the preparation phase. If you are properly prepared (that is, protected and ready), then you will not need to worry about any competition. However, if you are not properly prepared - if you don't have a clear understanding of the risks and are protected against them - then the competition can be very real and can threaten your ability to achieve your goals.   

Lastly, confrontations are typically a sign of an issue in the progress phase. The reason why you have to confront someone or something is because it is impeding your ability to move forward, and may even be threatening or hurting your current status. The employee whom you have to confront for their poor performance might be keeping operations from running smoothly. The family member with the drug problem is continually adding strain and worry to your and your loved ones' lives, not to mention their own.

Once you've determined what kind of situation(s) you're in, you can determine the guiding principle or principles to pay attention to.

PRINCIPLE
As I've talked about elsewhere, there are three core principles of the Sun Tzu Way: cohesion, concealment, and control. Like the three types of challenges, these principles also start with the letter "C."

Cohesion relates to understanding and articulating your key aspirations, values, and priorities. Concealment relates to keeping one's intentions and capabilities hidden from other people in order to protect one's goals. Control relates to focusing on increasing your sense of control over your situation through adding advantages or resources and eliminating barriers that may be keeping you from advancing.

Coincidentally, the three situations we described before relate directly to these three principles. So, for example, resolving conflict situations typically requires using the principle of cohesion. This is because these situations tend to be the result of a lack of a shared sense of purpose - of vision, values, or priorities. A disagreement with your spouse on finances, for example, betrays a lack of shared alignment and commitment on how money should be dealt with - saved, spent, earned, etc. 

Resolving competitive situations usually requires using the principle of concealment, that is, with controlling people's perceptions so as to hide one's intentions and capabilities. This allows one to protect one's interests and maximize the element of surprise.

And resolving confrontations typically requires applying the principle of control. Confrontations are, essentially, battles for control. One party is trying to exert dominance in a specific area that intersects with the other party's path forward. 

Thus, the situation tells you which principle to focus on. If you are in a conflict situation, then you need to focus your efforts on understanding and articulating a shared sense of purpose. If you are in a competition, then you need to focus on concealment. And if you are in a confrontation, then you need to focus on gradually taking control of the situation.

ACTION
Knowing the primary principle we should focus on allows us to determine the best plan of action for addressing the situation at hand, whether it be a conflict, a competition, or a confrontation.

Focusing on purpose in a conflict situation, for example, means striving to develop and articulate a shared understanding of the purpose of the task or area that all parties are participating in. Doing this requires asking others about their feelings, opinions, or perspective and trying to reach a consensus that all parties are clear on and satisfied with.

Focusing on concealment in a competition includes identifying the key critical points where you can dominate and making yourself appear as a natural fit for dominating in those areas.

For example, let's say you are applying for an open job position for a well-known company. Being hired for this company will likely be a very competitive process. One strategy would be to do as much research as possible on where that company may be weak with regards to that position. Ask yourself: What pain points may the company have? Why is this position needed? How may contributing in this position give the company a competitive advantage?

In fleshing this out in the cover letter, resume, and interview, you are making yourself look like a natural (and positive) fit for the position, which is how your interviewers want to feel in hiring a candidate.

Focusing on progress in confrontation situations involves identifying and accumulating advantages in your situation (e.g. allies, key information, money, etc.) that you can use to help you as well as identifying and addressing key barriers that may hinder your attempt to move forward.

For example, confronting your employee about poor performance might involve:

• talking to other coworkers who can verify poor performance
• keeping a written record of employee appraisals and performance metrics

It may also involve using effective tactics for addressing barriers that may occur in the conversation with the employee. For example, telling the employee directly that he or she has performance issues may put them on the defensive, not getting you anywhere. Instead, you may want to try the following:

1. Showing appreciation for what the employee might be doing well.
2. Addressing performance issues the employee has 
3. Asking questions about how the employee feels about the job and difficulties they might be facing, showing empathy regarding these challenges
4. Developing a plan of action for how the employee could improve performance

This is just an example, but you can see how the process at least addresses the barrier of defensiveness the employee might have.

RESULTS
The last and probably most crucial step is reviewing the results of your actions. You need to know what works and what doesn't in your situation. The best way to evaluate the results is by looking at your current situation (after you've taken action) and comparing it to the ideal outcome for each kind of situation mentioned above. (Ironically, the ideal outcome for each situation also starts with the letter "C.")

So for conflict situations, for example, what you are aiming for is consensus. You should feel like all parties are on the same page and have a shared understanding of how to move forward. Ask yourself: are you closer or further from reaching consensus?

For competitive situations, what you are aiming for is confidence. You should feel prepared, like you have a strong chance of gaining the advantage you're looking for. Ask: are you closer or further from feeling confident?

For confrontation situations, what you are aiming for is cooperation. All parties should feel that they are working together, not resisting each other or trying to undermine each other. Ask yourself: are you closer or further from a cooperative relationship? 

If the answer is closer, then you know to keep doing what you're doing. If the answer is further, then you have to change your plan of action.
~
As I said earlier, the idea is to use the SPAR approach as an iterative loop. The more you use it, the better things will gradually become for you.

 "Therefore, advancing not to seek glory, withdrawing not to avoid shame - but only to protect the people and benefit the ruler - [such a general] is the nation's treasure."
- Sun Tzu

For many people reading The Art of War, they believe that the text is about how to defeat an enemy with deception and trickery - that is, how to play "dirty." For Sun Tzu, however, the cost of warfare - not in simply in terms of money, but in terms of valuable lives of soldiers and citizens - is too high not to use whatever means one can to avoid battle and overcome conflict. As Sun Tzu tells us later, "A destroyed nation cannot return. Those who are dead cannot come back to life."

This is why Sun Tzu believes that only virtuous leaders can effectively use what some may consider "dirty" tactics - deception and espionage - in order to achieve victory. Without a strong sense of purpose (Tao) from the ruler and a strong general (Jiang) whose sole objective is to make sure the nation is protected and secure, the army and the nation will be in grave danger.

In your life, the same principle is true. Your ability to lead yourself is key to maintaining a sense of confidence, peace, security, and happiness - what Sun Tzu calls an. But in order to do this effectively, you need to cultivate key traits, or virtues, that will allow you to make the right decisions at the right time with confidence.

For Sun Tzu, a strong effective leader exhibits five key traits:

1. Wisdom
2. Credibility
3. Compassion
4. Discipline
5. Courage

These five traits are critical. For Sun Tzu, any deficiency in even one of them can lead to disaster. In your own life, this is also the case. Try to advance in life without cultivating these virtues, and you'll find yourself having a difficult life.

Let's take a look at each virtue below, including practices for how you can cultivate each virtue in your own life. (These are practices that I try to incorporate into my own life.)

Wisdom
For Sun Tzu, wisdom (zhi) is essential for making strategic decisions. It involves the ability to know not only what action to take, but when to take action.

In your own life, there are a few ways to cultivate wisdom:

1. Learning from experience. This means analyzing your own experiences as well as the experiences of others. Whenever you deal with a problem or challenge, record how you addressed it. Was it effective? Could you have addressed it better? In addition, talk to or read about other people who have solved similar issues or been through similar challenges. How did they solve it? Would it work for you?
2. Seeking to understand. Try not to dismiss what someone says just because you disagree. Strive to ask questions to delve deeper into that person's thinking. Read or listen to different perspectives on a subject.
3. Admitting ignorance. I try to never assume I am the smartest person in the room. I always assume that the person I'm talking to knows a lot more than I do about something important, and that I can learn from him or her. 

Credibility
For Sun Tzu, credibility (xin) is essential to leading an army. If the soldiers do not trust you, they will not risk their lives for you. As a general, you have to demonstrate that you are trustworthy - that you keep your word.

In your own life, try to follow these three practices in developing credibility:

1. Keeping your word. Try your best to keep promises that you make. Pay attention to your actions, making sure that they align with your words.
2. Be a good confidante. Be someone others can trust with their thoughts and feelings. Resist passing judgment on people, but always give your honest opinion.
3. Speak from experience. No one likes someone who preaches to them. Use "I" statements; tell people how you dealt with something or how you feel, without telling others how you think they should act.

Compassion
For Sun Tzu, the general must have compassion (ren) in order to lead his soldiers and serve as protector of the people. The virtuous general sees the humanity in everyone, including his enemies, which is a very important reason why Sun Tzu values winning without battle. As such, only a compassionate general can use deception, since his ultimate aim is not to destroy the enemy, but to halt his will to fight.

In your own life, to be an effective leader of yourself and others, you need to cultivate compassion for others as well as yourself. The following are a few ways to do this:

1. See All Under Heaven as one family. This is a phrase that comes from Confucius. It means that all of us are imperfect, yet ever-growing beings, deserving of love, support, and understanding. In that way, we are but one family, operating under the same human condition.
2. View your happiness as worth protecting. The general's primary role is not to prove his skill in battle. It's not to destroy the enemy. His role is to protect the people and their interests, their way of life, their Tao. Likewise, you must view your happiness and well-being as worth protecting. You are the general of your life to protect your well-being and secure your growth, because the better you are doing, the better you'll be able to contribute to society at large. This is worth guarding.

Courage
In warfare, it is obvious that courage (yong) is an essential virtue to cultivate. For Sun Tzu, the general must be willing not simply to fight in battle, but to throw his soldiers, for whom he cares as if they were his own children, into harm's way, so that they unite together in defeating the enemy.

You, too, need the courage to take action in the face of uncertainty. If you want to advance your situation and overcome the daily challenges in your life, you need to have the courage to make tough decisions - to have tough conversations. It is not easy, and I am first to admit that this virtue is hard for me. But the following are some practices to help cultivate courage in your own life:

1. Calculating the dangers of not taking action. Most people think about the consequences of taking a certain action. But just as important is considering the consequences of not taking action. What will happen if you decide not to have that difficult, yet critical conversation? What will happen if you decide not to confront someone's toxic behavior?
2. Developing contingency plans and exit strategies. Sun Tzu's general is constantly making calculations, analyzing his situation, making contingency plans, and trying to remove errors. If you are afraid to take action, then one reassurance is knowing that your plan is as strong as it can be. Give yourself a contingency plan in case Plan A doesn't work out. Try always to have an exit strategy so that you know you are protected.
3. Letting go. At a certain point, you must let your decision up to fate. If you are honest, compassionate, and confident, then the odds are on your side that it will end up okay. It is rare that a decision you make, if you are honest and well-intentioned, is irreversible.

Discipline
Discipline (yan), for Sun Tzu, involves having high standards for oneself as well as one's soldiers. A disciplined general ensures the soldiers stay focused on the task at hand and do not cultivate bad thoughts or habits that would distract them from their mission.

In your own life, you will have many things that will distract you from your overall purpose - from social media to news articles to text messages to TV shows. Indeed, you will also develop thoughts that will distract you - self-defeating thoughts such as "I'm a horrible person," "I will never amount to anything," or procrastinating thoughts such as "I can do that tomorrow," or "I'm not ready yet."

Discipline is about staying focused on completing the important tasks that will serve your overall purpose. This doesn't mean you can't have time for fun or entertainment or enjoyment. Rather, it means that important things are put first.

Like courage, discipline is very hard. I struggle with it as well. The following are some ways I try to cultivate discipline:

1. Implementing systems. The best way to keep focused and disciplined is by developing a system that makes doing the task easy and top of mind. For example, I use a task manager that sends me notifications for when I am to complete important tasks.
2. Thinking in terms of progress. Try not to focus on reaching a goal or target. Rather, try to compare your current results to the time before. What you want is better results than before. Focus on improvement, not achievement.
3. Focusing on consistency, not results. Along with #2, you want to focus less on reaching a target or producing a result than on the actual fact that you committed to doing the activity. If you're trying to improve your piano playing, for example, don't focus on playing a piece perfectly. Focus rather on the amount of time you spent practicing the piece, or the number of times you practiced in the week. Practice consistently, and the results will take care of themselves.

The Art of War encapsulates a philosophy of life for dealing with challenges you may be facing. While the book is complex, Sun Tzu offers us important reminders, or mantras, for how we can grow in our ability to face these challenges.

The following are three key mantras that I try to keep in mind as I deal with life's many challenges.

1. "Know thy enemy, know thyself."
2. "No gain, no action. No danger,  no battle."
3. "Avoid the strong, attack the weak."

Let's go in depth with each mantra.

Mantra 1: "Know thy enemy, know thyself"
This comes from Sun Tzu's most famous line in The Art of War. The full passage is: "Know the other, know the self, and in one hundred battles, you will not be in danger."

For Sun Tzu, victory in warfare comes not from willpower or perseverance or luck. It comes from knowledge. Knowledge of your enemy and knowledge of yourself. One gains this knowledge through intelligence and analysis.

In life, we do not spend enough time understanding the challenges we face and how we contribute to our situation. We complain when things don't go our way, or we celebrate when things do. Increasing your sense of control over your life starts with understanding the daily battles you face and your place in them.

Improving your relationship with your spouse starts with understanding what divides you two and how you've played into that.

Improving your status at work starts with understanding what is keeping you from advancing as well as your weaknesses and strengths.

Overcoming anxiety starts with understanding what anxiety is and how you've constructed a life that allows for anxiety to overwhelm you.

Facing the challenges in your life starts with shining some light on them - looking at them and examining them. Once you know them deeply, you can develop a plan of action for dealing with them.

Mantra 2: "No gain, no action. No danger,  no battle."
This mantra comes from the twelfth chapter in The Art of War. The full passage goes like this:

"If there is no advantage, do not move. If there is nothing to gain, do not mobilize. If there is no danger, do not fight. The ruler may not, from anger, dispatch soldiers. The general may not, from resentment, seek to fight. If engaging to take an advantage, then move. If not, then stop."

Here Sun Tzu reminds us of a key principle in warfare: every action has a cost. The only costs really worth taking are the ones where you can gain from it. In this way, The Art of War is not simply a book about winning. It's about making winning pay. It's about winning in a way that you are better off than you were before.

For Sun Tzu, taking action without understanding what you will gain from doing so, or fighting with someone without something being threatened, is a waste of valuable resources that could be used to improve your situation.

This is just as applicable to your life as it is to Sun Tzu's army. We are taught to act, act, act. To not just sit, but to do. To not wait, but take the bull by the horns.

But you don't always have to speak your mind or share your opinion. You don't always have to argue if someone says something you disagree with. You don't always have to take action.

The Sun Tzu Way lies in understanding when to move and when to wait. This is what Sun Tzu calls jie, or timing.

Mantra 3:  "Avoid the strong, attack the weak"
This mantra comes from the sixth chapter on "Emptiness and Fullness." The full passage is as follows:

"The army's positioning is like water. Just as water avoids the high and rushes to the low, an army's positioning avoids the strong and rushes to the weak."

For Sun Tzu, victory in war comes not from defeating an enemy in battle. It doesn't come from advanced skill in fighting. True victory comes from applying strength against weakness. It comes from uniting your forces where the enemy is unprepared. It comes from taking the unexpected line of attack.

Sun Tzu's philosophy is a philosophy of opportunism. You must see the right opening - a vulnerability in the market, a chance for you to gain recognition - and seize it as quickly as possible. The secret to winning is never to win where it is tough, but where victory can be easily gained. As Sun Tzu tells us, "Those skilled warriors of the past won where it was easy to win. Therefore, the victory of a skilled warrior is neither 'brilliant' nor 'bravely achieved.'"

You must always prepare yourself for seizing opportunities and moving into openings. Success is not about being the best, the most aggressive, or even the most intelligent. It is about taking advantage of what is offered you and using it to serve your purpose.