Four Sun Tzu-inspired rules I follow in dealing with tough situations

"On difficult ground, keep going."
- Sun Tzu

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu places a lot of value on always being ready to face or deal with the enemy. Indeed, this emphasis on readiness is so important for Sun Tzu that I consider it one of the core values of the Sun Tzu Way (TSTW). Sun Tzu tells us explicitly, "One who, prepared, awaits the unprepared wins." In other words, readiness is a key factor for achieving victory.

This sounds nice, you may be thinking, but what about emergency situations? What about really difficult situations that catch us off-guard? How would you use​ TSTW to deal with people or events you didn't or couldn't plan for?

In truth, while Sun Tzu does stress the importance of planning and foreknowledge, he also embraces the fact that the unexpected is a feature of every battle. Wars are inherently chaotic. No general, no matter how skilled, can calculate or plan for everything.

Nor does Sun Tzu expect him to. Indeed, readiness is not about predicting what's going to happen. Rather, it's about how well you are able to respond to the ever-changing situation before you. Master your response, and you control the situation.

As such, there are four rules that I have drawn from reading The Art of War to help me in dealing with difficult, unexpected situations. They are

1. Let the river water settle.
2. Find the high ground.
3. Move quickly through the marshes.
4. Use the ground for assistance.

Let's go through each in greater detail.

LET THE RIVER WATER SETTLE
"When it rains and the river water rises, one who wishes to cross must wait for it to settle."
- Sun Tzu

The first rule in dealing with a difficult situation is to let the river water settle - that is, to wait for things to calm before taking action. Sun Tzu, of course, is speaking here of a physical river that an army is looking to cross, but we can use the imagery as a metaphor for our own lives.

The pouring rain refers to a quick and sudden change that makes difficult what we are trying to do. We are trying to cross a particular river - i.e. get a promotion, land a client, get a date with someone we like. But then something happens that complicates this or slows down the opportunity: a recession hits, another person is competing for the same client, the person we wanted to date is still talking with their ex.

Sun Tzu's advice for us is simple: stop trying to cross that river and just wait for it to settle. There are two aspects to this rule. The first echoes another rule that Sun Tzu tells, "Move if there is advantage, stop if there is not." There is nothing to gain by trying to continue on the path. Rather, you have to wait until you can reassess your situation. 

Perhaps the promotion is no longer available, but once things have settled, you'll be in a much better position to understand what opportunities are available. Perhaps the client will not go with your competition, but once things have settled, you'll be in a much better position to understand their wants and needs. Perhaps the person you want to date will not go back to her ex, but once things have settled, you'll have a better idea of where her head is at.

Things will not always end up the way you want. The river you're trying to cross may not be the right river, especially after a storm. Continuing while things are crazy, though, will not make that any clearer to you. Wait for things to settle to determine if you really want to cross.

The second aspect is to let the river water in your mind settle. When an event occurs that disturbs our plans, our minds can often get rattled. Waiting for the rainwater to settle also means letting your mind process what has happened. This is the time to take a step back and assess your emotional state. Ask yourself: How does this make me feel? Am I upset? Am I frustrated? Am I hurt?

Embedded in this rule is the understanding that the river water will settle. As Sun Tzu tells us, "Anger can return to happiness. Resentment can return to contentment." Things may be hard, frustrating, and surprising now - but give it time, and it will settle.

Then you can make your move.

FIND THE 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

For Sun Tzu, the reason why the winning army prefers the high, sunny ground over the low, dark ground is because both height and light provide maximum visibility of your situation. Light allows you to see your situation, height allows you to see far and wide.

The same idea applies to your life. It is easy to get caught up in bad news. Someone is spreading a rumor about you at work, someone gives a bad review of your business on the internet, a high-paying client decides to leave you, your significant other is questioning your future together.

It's easy to respond with hurt, frustration, defensiveness. However, to effectively deal with your situation, you must try to see it from a clear and elevated perspective. This involves viewing your situation from two perspectives - from the perspective of purpose (yi) and from the perspective of compassion (ren).

A question I try to ask myself in these types of situation is: How can I respond in a way that both allows me to move forward in my purpose and shows respect and dignity to myself and the people I'm dealing with?

Perhaps this means confronting your gossiper in a calm and humane way. Perhaps it means responding to the poor review by apologizing and agreeing to certain concessions. Perhaps it means genuinely asking the high-paying client what you could have done differently to retain his patronage. Perhaps it means asking your significant other what future she wants and being honest about what you want in your future.

The idea is not that you will get what you want - a colleague, customer, client, partner who loves you and will always support you. The idea is simply to position yourself so that you are better than before, that you have more understanding than before, and you know how to navigate towards your goals better.

This requires keeping a clear head about where you currently are and where you want to be.

MOVE QUICKLY THROUGH THE MARSHES
"To leave salt marshes, just hurry through - do not stay."
- Sun Tzu

For Sun Tzu, a marsh is a dangerous ground for an army to travel on. A marsh slows down movement and its insects can spread disease. As such, Sun Tzu's advice is to move quickly through marshes and stay far away from them.

In life, the same advice is true. Often times we get ourselves in metaphorical marshes -  sticky or competitive situations where we find ourselves trying to fight through them. We find ourselves in a big argument with someone, or in a long battle with a company's customer service department, or in a pissing competition with a colleague over implementing a new program.

What tends to happen in these situations is that we get bogged down by endless responses, what author Robert Greene calls "tactical hell." This person responds this way, we react and respond another way, and so on. In the end, we find ourselves spending so much time arguing or fighting without anything substantial to show for it.

Sun Tzu's advice is just as applicable for us as it was for the armies of his time: do not get bogged down by these situations. Act quickly to resolve them. Don't get drawn into an argument, and if you do, try to your involvement quickly. Don't get drawn into finding a solution through bureaucratic systems - try to find a quicker way elsewhere to get what you need, or, if possible, let go of trying to find a solution. If you find yourself competing with a colleague, then you've likely already lost. Cede victory and try to find another opportunity where you won't have competition.

Avoid petty battles or battles of ego. These will only suck up your time. Resolve conflicts as quickly as possible so you can get past them.

USE THE GROUND FOR ASSISTANCE
"This is the army's advantage - the assistance of the ground."
- Sun Tzu

For Sun Tzu, a winning army establishes readiness not by having the best supplies or equipment, but by understanding how to use the ground and its resources to its advantage. In difficult situations, it relies on what is available to it, not on resources it wished it had.

This is the same mindset you must adapt. Using the ground for assistance means using what is available to you to resolve the problems you face. Often in the face of difficult situations, we tend to focus on what we don't have - money, time, energy, know-how. Rarely do we take a break and think about what we do have available to us - patience, understanding, friends, the Internet, etc.

You must strive to be resourceful. Ask yourself: what resources or advantages do I have available to me? How could I use them to help deal with my problem?

You may not have the resources to completely solve your problem, but you can always make your situation better. And often times that is enough to get you through whatever difficulty you are facing.
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In short, following these four rules will not necessarily give you the exact result that you were hoping for. You may not be able to get that promotion, client, job, date, relationship. But these rules will guide you in understanding how to reframe and benefit from your situation so that you can ultimately be in a better position than before.

And for Sun Tzu, knowing how to do that is the key to making yourself ready for anything that comes your way.