3.5

"It is through wholeness that one contends for All-Under-Heaven. Thus, the army will not be stopped, and its gains will be intact. This is the method for planning attacks."
- Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu introduces here the concept of what I call "total victory." The idea behind total victory is that one must not simply aim to win, but to keep one's gains intact. If an army defeats an enemy, but extols heavy losses on its side, its gains will be very small.

However, if an army defeats the enemy without battle, thereby keeping its strength intact, it is able to benefit greatly from the victory. The goal is not simply to defeat the enemy, but to profit from defeating him. The victory becomes less and less valuable the more resources are used to achieve it.

As the general of your own life, you must keep in mind Sun Tzu's method for strategizing. Before you decide to use a resource (time, money, energy) to accomplish something, ask yourself whether there is a way to achieve the effect you want without using that resource. How can you get it for free? How can you get someone else to do it? Do you have to do something right now, or can you just wait?

In addition, you also want to make sure that whatever conflict you find yourself in, you must know what you are to gain from it. Winning on its own isn't worth anything. You must know what you are winning - the profits from the victory must be valuable (e.g. more time, more money, more satisfaction). This helps you determine whether contending at all is worth it.