For Sun Tzu, there are five factors that affect an army’s ability to achieve victory. The idea is for the general to evaluate his army’s strengths and weaknesses in these five factors and compare them to the enemy. Knowing these factors, the general can determine who is more likely to win and what strategy needs to be implemented to turn the odds in his favor.
 
These factors can also be applied to your life - whether at home, in your relationships, in business, in investing, etc. - to help you determine whether you have control over that aspect of your life. 
 
These five factors are

1. The Way (Tao)
2. Heaven (Tian)
3. Ground (Di)
4. Leader (Jiang)
5. Methods (Fa)

 
We are going to take a deeper look into each factor and how they apply to your own life.
 
The Way (Tao)
For Sun Tzu, the Way is what unites the people together with the ruler. It allows everyone to be focused against adversity. It’s what motivates people and allows them to face danger without fear.

For you, the Way defines your personal philosophy - your aspirations, values, and overall sense of purpose.

Heaven (Tian)
Heaven includes all those forces that you cannot control and that change over time, but affect your situation. For Sun Tzu, Heaven affects an army’s ability to relate to its environment - i.e. the Ground - and thus make effective decisions. Specifically, it affects the following capabilities:

1. The ability of an army to see its environment clearly 
2. The ability of an army to balance its need for heat balancing resources (e.g. fire for warmth, water or fans for coolness)
3. The ability of an army to conserve and use resources

For Sun Tzu, the major factor that affects an army’s relation to its ground is time - time of day, month, and year. Timing, therefore, is the key skill to develop in relation to Heaven. 

In your own situation, Heaven translates to events that occur in your life that affect your emotional state. Specifically, it affects the following capabilities

• Your ability to see your situation clearly (clarity)
• Your ability to maintain a calm, balanced state (calmness)
• Your ability to procure and conserve available resources on your own (confidence)

Like the army, the key factor here is time, particularly your internal psychological cycles. Thus, timing is an important skill. You must understand when your thinking is most clear or unclear; when your emotions tend to be balanced or out of balance; when it is okay for you to rely on others or when you have to just rely on yourself.

Ground (Di)
Ground refers to the quality of options for advancing your position and getting to where you want to be. In any situation you face, there are usually a number of pathways you can take. Your role is to choose the pathway with the best set of qualities. This set of qualities is the Ground. 

For Sun Tzu, there are four qualities that define the Ground, which follow the acronym ODDS:

1. Openness - how much space you have to advance
2. Difficulty - how difficult it will be to advance
3. Distance - how far you have to go to advance (i.e. how long it will take)
4. Safety - how dangerous it’ll be to advance

For Sun Tzu, you want to compare your options and choose the option that

• gives you more and/or better options in the future
• is the easiest to achieve
• allows you to advance the quickest
• offers the least amount of danger.

For Sun Tzu, choosing the right option is a logical calculation, which is why Heaven is such an important factor to consider. The forces of Heaven - events in our life - tend to inhibit our ability to think rationally and make logical evaluations of our options.

Leader (Jiang)
Because Heaven affects our relation to the Ground, a general needs certain qualities, or virtues, that will allow him to gain and maintain relative control over the Ground. For Sun Tzu, these virtues are

1. Wisdom. A general needs to have the knowledge, skills, and experience to evaluate the options accurately.
2. Credibility. A general needs to gain the trust of his troops. He needs a strong reputation for keeping his word.
3. Compassion. The general's primary goal is to ensure the nation is safe and secure. He must be compassionate towards the people, not striving to advance his own fame or wealth. In addition, the general needs to care for his troops as if they were his own children. He needs to have their best interests at heart. In addition, his primary goal is to provide for the security of the nation.
4. Courage. A general needs to be able to make tough decisions based on the options in front of him.
5. Discipline. A general needs to hold his troops accountable and needs to stay focused on his mission.

For Sun Tzu, these virtues are crucial in a general to manage his troops’ emotional states so that they do not have trouble focusing on the mission and option ahead.

For you, these qualities translate in the following ways:

1. You need the skills and knowledge to evaluate your options.
2. You need clear ways to validate your abilities. Tests, certifications, past accomplishments, etc., all serve to help you validate that you have the ability to improve your situation.
3. You need to be kind to yourself. Eliminate the negative self-talk (“I am an idiot,” “I am a coward,” “I never do anything right,” etc.).
4. You need to develop bravery in your decision making and commitment to following your Way, no matter the cost.
5. You need the discipline to stick to your decisions and maintain accountability.

The function of a leader is twofold:

1. To guard against the forces of Heaven, which pull us away from our philosophy and prevent us from evaluating the Ground rationally.
2. To evaluate the Ground to see which options will move us forward.

Methods (Fa)
For Sun Tzu, methods make up the organization and operations of an army, including its chain of command, logistics, and the control of expenses. It is how the army would function in the absence of a leader.

Because the leader cannot be around all the time to tell everyone what to do, the army needs a structure that will allow it to operate and produce results without needing constant orders.

For you, methods make up the rules, habits, systems, and tactics you will rely on to produce the results you want - in good and bad times. The point of the inner leader is to keep your mind intact despite the forces of Heaven. The point of methods is to let your inner leader focus on this task while you, as a person, can still produce results.

It is similar to an executive in an office: if the executive is busy making sure everything is operational, she won’t have the time to focus on the important activity of making sure everyone is united and on the same page as well as evaluating the Ground.
~
In short, remember these five principles:

1. Cultivate the Way. Deepen your understanding of and commitment to your purpose.
2. Study Heaven. Understand your cycles and the cycles of those around you.
3. Evaluate the Ground. Know your options and search for opportunities to grow and advance your place in your journey.
4. Demonstrate leadership. Strive to be kind, disciplined, trustworthy, rational, and brave in your interactions with others and with yourself. 
5. Use the appropriate methods. Develop systems, practices, habits, and principles to help you achieve your aspirations and to guide your journey.

A core value is an ideal quality one strives to prioritize, achieve, and maintain in one's way (Tao) of doing things.

Having read The Art of War for over twenty years, I've come to realize that there are three values that serve as the core of the Sun Tzu Way. These are values that the skilled warriors (shan zhan zhe) of the past upheld in conducting warfare and what allowed them to achieve success on the battlefield.

These values are 

1. Clarity (ming). Prioritize knowledge and understanding in whatever situation you face.
2. Readiness (dài). Evaluate your methods and continually improve them for the life you want.
3. Wholeness (quan). Strive to succeed at minimal cost to yourself or others.

These three values come up consistently in the text and, in my experience at least, can be prioritized in almost any situation to improve one's life. Personally, I try to uphold these values in any major decisions I make - whether it's personal finance, investing, career, or skill development.

Let's go into a little more detail with each value.

CLARITY
"Know the self, know the other, and victory will not be in danger. Know the Heaven, know the Ground, and victory will be complete."
- Sun Tzu

A constant theme in The Art of War is that knowledge - not willpower or size or bravery - is the key to success on the battlefield. The general who achieves total victory (quan sheng) is the one who understands his situation better - who knows the enemy, his army, the climate, and the ground.

For this reason, the skillful general is always trying to develop a clear (ming) understanding of what's going on. He uses spies to gather intelligence on the enemy's situation. He uses local guides to help him understand the various battlefields. He observes the enemy's behavior to discern his condition. He keeps watch over his troops to determine their attitude and morale.

He takes all this information and analyzes it to get a clear picture of his situation. Then he decides a course of action.

To be a skilled warrior of life, you must prioritize the same thinking. We live in a society that emphasizes action and persistence as key values. However, how smoothly life goes for you often depends on how well you understand your situation. You must listen to others, hear and consider their perspectives. You must learn to ask questions and take nothing for granted. You must do your research.

What you are after is clarity. Your aim is always to shine light on your situation before taking any deliberate action.

READINESS
"Do not rely on the enemy not coming. Rely on our ability to await him. Do not rely on the enemy not attacking. Rely on our having a place which cannot be attacked."
- Sun Tzu

For Sun Tzu, continual success on the battlefield is not a matter of luck or fate. Rather, it is a matter of preparation. The winning army is always prepared to deal with anything that comes its way - whether danger or opportunity. It is always ready to respond at a moment's notice.

Such readiness does not come from how intelligent or capable one is. Rather, it comes having the proper methods (systems, training, principles, tactics) in place and utilizing them to deal with changing circumstances, anticipate the potential dangers, and capitalize on the enemy's mistakes or weaknesses.

Likewise, in your own life, your ability to tackle the challenges you face in life doesn't depend on how smart or confident or well-connected you are. Rather, it depends on your state of readiness. It depends on the quality of your own methods - your own systems, habits, principles, and techniques - to deal with the issue at hand.

Look at your systems, your habits, the rules or guidelines you follow, your skills. Evaluate whether they are effective at helping you deal with the challenges or struggles you face everyday, or if they are just a part of the problem.

Put time and effort developing effective methods. With these methods in place, you'll be ready to face any challenge that comes your way.

WHOLENESS
"It is by keeping intact that one contends for All-Under-Heaven. Thus, the army will not be stopped, and its gains will be intact."
- Sun Tzu

For Sun Tzu, the highest excellence in warfare does not come from winning numerous battles. Rather, it comes from knowing how to subdue the enemy without fighting. In other words, Sun Tzu values wholeness - that is, keeping the army and the enemy intact (quan).

At heart, Sun Tzu takes an economic view of warfare. Warfare is destructive by nature. It destroys lives, morale, weapons, nations. Thus, what is gained by conducting warfare should and must outweigh the costs of going to war. The goal for Sun Tzu is not to win, but to make winning pay. This involves minimizing the destruction and maximizing the gains.

This view of war makes up the essence of The Art of War. It is the whole reason why Sun Tzu wrote the text. Thus, value of wholeness makes up the core of Sun Tzu's philosophy. It is what every skilled warrior should strive to attain when conducting war.

As Sun Tzu advises us, wholeness in warfare is achieved through mastery of deception, positioning, and momentum. The skillful general defeats the enemy not through brute strength or ferocious warriors, but through concealing his army's situation from the enemy, avoiding unnecessary engagements, building up a strong offensive position, and striking when and where the enemy is least prepared. This is the way (Tao) of total victory (quan sheng) for Sun Tzu.

In your own life, the same concept applies. Every struggle you face bears a cost. Every endeavor you take on involves risk. Every responsibility requires sacrifice. Assume too many risks, fight too many battles, take on too many responsibilities, and you can find yourself exhausted, overwhelmed, and in a bad situation.

The path to success in life comes from understanding which battles are worth fighting, which endeavors are worth pursuing, and which responsibilities are worth taking on. It involves concealing your intentions and plans, avoiding unnecessary arguments or struggles, building up your skills and resources, and moving quickly to jump on opportunities to move forward.

This is how you make success pay and live a life of calm and security (an).
~
In short, these three values make up the core of the Sun Tzu Way. Taken together, they make up the essence of Sun Tzu's philosophy. In incorporating these values into your own life, ask yourself:

1. What must I do to get a clearer understanding of my situation?
2. How can I be more prepared - that is, more protected and ready?
3. How can I 'keep whole' - that is, how can I minimize the costs and maximize the gains for all involved?

Ask yourself these questions in every meaningful situation you face, and you’ll gradually begin to create wonders in your life.

"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:

1. Cultivate the Tao
2. Calculate the risks before committing
3. Conceal your goals and intentions
4. Gather intel
5. Make sure you are protected before taking action
6. Use your strengths to exploit opportunities
7. Take action only if there is some advantage
8. Accumulate as many little advantages as possible
9. Focus on quick, secure victories with modest rewards over long, risky victories that can reap huge rewards
10. Once committed, go deep

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.​

"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:

1. Examine all the risk factors.  Take a realistic look at all the risk factors you face in what you’re trying to do – all the things that can go wrong.  For example, if you’re trying to win that promotion at work, create a list of all the factors that could stop you: competitive or envious co-workers, you aren’t close with your boss, you are too good at your job for your company to promote you, etc.  Knowing all these factors, you have a much clearer picture of the risks you face in your endeavor.
2. Work on eliminating each factor, one by one.    After you’ve made your list, plot out ways to you can eliminate or reduce the risk of each factor getting in your way.  For example, with the promotion example, some solutions might be: make friends with your co-workers, include your boss more in the work you do, etc.  With each risk factor you deal with, your chances of success go up and your power grows stronger.

​Doing this consistently will set you up for success – and not simply embracing the possibility of failure.

"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.