"Before battle, yet in the temple, one predicts "victory," having obtained calculations for an excess [of advantages]. Before battle, yet in the temple, one predicts "no victory," having obtained calculations for a shortage [of advantages]. Calculating an excess [of advantages] - victory. Calculating a shortage [of advantages] - no victory. And what's the situation if there are no calculations? I, by means of this perspective, can see who will win or lose."
- Sun Tzu Sun Tzu concludes Book 1 by emphasizing the mathematical nature of determining who will win or lose in war. The math for Sun Tzu is very simple: the side with greater number of advantages will win, and the side with the fewer number of advantages will most likely not win. And the side with zero advantages will most likely lose. This returns us to Sun Tzu's basic point about achieving shih: accumulate as many advantages as possible in order to win. An excess of advantages tips the balance of power in the army's favor, giving it the momentum to overwhelm and defeat the enemy. That is the top priority for the army for Sun Tzu. This principle equally applies to your own life. Your top priority in life is not to achieve any specific objective, but to accumulate as many advantages as possible. Objectives shift, dreams change, but what allows you to succeed is an excess of advantages. An excess of relationships, of savings, of goodwill, of experience, of practice, of options - these give you the ability to change directions and create the life you want.
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"This [approach] is the winning army's specialty. It must not be communicated beforehand."
- Sun Tzu As a summary, for Sun Tzu, a winning strategy is achieved not through strength or numbers, but through deception - through secrecy and surprise. This is how a smaller army can defeat a larger one. Achieving this involves adapting to the enemy and controlling his perception, which is why Sun Tzu says that the army needs to ensure it doesn't telegraph its strategy to the enemy. But even more than worrying about telegraphing, the general must make sure the army's strategy adapts to the enemy and to changing conditions. This means that an army should not solidly commit to a strategy, but should rather be fluid and willing to change its approach according to the circumstances. In your own life, this means expecting whatever plan you create to change. Your overall strategy should be to update your approach according to your circumstances. Your plan is almost guaranteed to change. Don't expect anything, but be vigilant for everything, and be willing to change your objectives. This is what will allow you to win. "Attack where he is unprepared. Go out to where he does not expect."
- Sun Tzu For Sun Tzu, there are two key aspects of deception. The first aspect is concealment, which means hiding your situation and positioning from the enemy. The second aspect is surprise. You must conceal your position and attack where the enemy does not expect. In military strategy, this is called taking the "line of least expectation." Sun Tzu refers to these two aspects of deception constantly throughout the text. He sees them as two alternating aspects of dealing with the enemy. Alternating between concealment and surprise, the army gains control over the dynamic of the war and weakens the enemy's resolve to fight. It also places the enemy constantly on the defensive, so he is not concerned with trying to attack, but with guarding against future surprise attacks. We've already discussed the power of concealment in your own life. But it's equally important to know how to surprise - how to take charge quickly, boldly, and effectively. Do not waste time. Keep the world on the defensive. Once you know what you want and have concealed it from others, push forward and take action. As Napoleon once said, "Be slow in deliberation, but quick in execution." The element of surprise, for Sun Tzu, is what gives you momentum (shih) and allows you to grow your power and influence. "If the enemy is advantaged, entice him. If disorderly, take him. If many, prepare for him. If strong, evade him. If angry, frustrate him. If humble, make him arrogant. If relaxed, make him work. If united, separate him."
- Sun Tzu This passage highlights the power of deception to adapt to and handle the enemy. In addition to being a way to conceal the army's situation from the enemy, deception is used to respond to the enemy by creating situations to which the enemy must respond. For example, if the enemy is in an advantageous position, responding to him by fighting will do you no good. The best response, then, is to get him off of his current position by enticing him with a seemingly more appealing advantage. Likewise, if the enemy is humble or afraid to fight, then it will be difficult to confront him. Instead, you must get the enemy to approach by making him think he has the ability to win. An army cannot simply deal with the enemy's physical state, but its psychological state. We'll see this later in the third book, but Sun Tzu teases this idea here. What the army is trying to defeat is not the enemy (i.e. his physical force), but the enemy's psychology - i.e. its will to fight. This is accomplished through skillful use of deception. In your own life, in any battle you face, your aim must not be to destroy your opposition. To destroy your opponents in an argument. To destroy your "current self" which resists change. To destroy your business competitors. Your aim, rather, should be to destroy the will to fight. This is done by understanding and addressing the needs of other people, even yourself, and coming up with a solution that satisfies everyone. It involves meeting people where they are at psychologically - whether they are angry, arrogant, advantaged, humble, or relaxed. You may disagree with them or hold a different perspective, but the aim is to move them in your direction. This is done through deception - not by lying, but by controlling people's perceptions so that they react to what you offer given their psychological state. This is the essence of strategy itself, and is why Sun Tzu prioritizes deception as such a crucial principle in the art of war. "Therefore, if able, appear unable. If active, appear inactive. If near, appear far. If far, appear near."
- Sun Tzu Here Sun Tzu is providing examples of what he means by deception. But the art of deception goes beyond simply appearing as the opposite of one's current state. The idea is that the enemy should have no idea what the army is capable of and what it is in a position to do. This not only conceals the army's position, but gives it the element of surprise. For example, if the enemy thinks you are far when you are actually near, you have the ability to surprise the enemy with a sudden attack, throwing him off balance. This is an ideal position to be in life as well. No one should have an idea of what you are capable of and what you can do. Simply concealing your intentions is not enough. You must conceal how likely you are to achieve your intentions. Doing this bypasses people's ability to resist you and anticipate your progress. Half the war of success is keeping how you achieved it a secret. "Warfare is the way of deception."
- Sun Tzu This is perhaps one of the most well-known, and controversial, lines from the Sun Tzu. But for Sun Tzu, the idea that deception is at the core of doing war is simply common-sense. If victory in war comes from understanding the army's situation via the five factors, then if the enemy understands your situation, it can predict how you may achieve victory or where you are weak. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that an army is able to conceal its situation from the enemy. This concept applies to your life as well. The idea is not to trick or lie to people, but to conceal your intentions and ideas from people who do not need to know them. It is a general feature of life that when people hear an idea, unless the idea already agrees with their viewpoints, they will be most likely to attack, criticize, or bring up doubts about it. Or they will provide their own unsolicited thoughts or advice and become defensive if you do not agree. (You can probably find many instances of this in your own life.) Likewise, there is even research that shows that announcing your plans or ideas can even make yourself less likely to go through with it. Not necessarily because other people may criticize it, but because it often inflates one's sense of identity, making one feel as if one has accomplished the thing before it is completed. The lesson: resist the urge to reveal everything. Conceal your plans and intentions. Don't let others know what you are up to. "Calculate advantages according to this advice, and you'll achieve the shih (force) necessary to assist [the army] in foreign situations (shih being the source of advantages and the control of power)."
- Sun Tzu Here Sun Tzu introduces the concept of shih, which roughly translates to force, influence, momentum, or power. It is a very difficult word to translate, which is why I have chosen to keep the Chinese word here. For Sun Tzu, shih refers to a situation in which the army has accumulated enough advantages that it can adapt to and overwhelm the enemy. The idea here is that the more the general analyzes its situation in terms of the five factors, the more he will be able to direct the army towards obtaining advantages that will allow it to tip the odds of victory in its favor. This concept of shih has as much applicability to your life as it does to Sun Tzu's army. With the more advantages you have - a big network of friends and acquaintances, money, skills, knowledge, reputation, personality strengths, etc. - the bigger your chances of being able to improve or transform your situation in the face of conflict or struggle. This, for Sun Tzu, is what you should aim for. Most people focus intensely on getting that one big goal - that one job promotion, that one client, that one argument. For Sun Tzu, however, what you should be aiming for is accumulating lots of little advantages. This gives you the momentum (shih) necessary to overcome any obstacles you may face in the future. "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 At this point, it's probably very important point to stop and question just how valid Sun Tzu's principles are. As a reader, to ask yourself: Why is Sun Tzu so confident in the five factors? Are they actually good determinants for predicting whether or not an army will win or lose? Why are they so important? For Sun Tzu, when taken together, the five factors allow one to calculate an army's positioning - i.e. how prepared an army is in being able to defend itself and take advantage of opportunities to win. If an army has a strong Tao, if Heaven is favorable, if the Ground has plenty of options, if the general is capable, and if the methods are strong, the army will be in a strong position to guard against, outmaneuver, and subdue the enemy. If one or more of those factors are weak or uncertain, then defense and victory become uncertain. And if all the factors are weak, then the ability of an army to survive, much less win, will be slim. You too must analyze your own life using the five factors. These factors will allow you to define your positioning with respect to whatever life you want to have or create. Your Tao must be clear and inspiring. You must have a grasp of your internal, psychological cycles so as to better understand your strengths and weaknesses and how you react to different situations. You must try to develop and improve your options as much as possible. You must develop your inner leader so that you have wisdom, courage, benevolence, credibility, and discipline. And lastly, you must develop methods - habits, practices, systems - that will help you take action, adapt to changing circumstances, and structure the life you want. "Therefore, study them [the five factors] by means of calculation, and investigate your situation. Ask whether:
- Sun Tzu As we stated in the previous post, it is through investigating the army's situation by means of the five factors that a general is able to create a clear picture of his chances for victory. This knowledge comes from asking specific questions and using intelligence gathering to study the army. In your own situation, you want to ask very similar questions, such as:
These are just some questions you could, but these should give you a good enough picture to assess whether you can actually improve your situation and gain greater control over your life. "All these five factors, no general has not heard. One who knows them will win. One who does not know them will not win."
- Sun Tzu The concept of the five factors was not invented by Sun Tzu. It was already common knowledge in military training for officers, which is why Sun Tzu only gives a reference for each of the five factors. What Sun Tzu emphasizes, however, is how important studying, analyzing, and understanding these five factors are. Taken together, these five factors give the general a clear picture of the army's chances for victory. If the Tao is not motivating enough to make people unafraid to risk their lives; if the Heaven is too unpredictable; if the Ground does not offer viable options; if the general is weak; if the methods are unclear or ineffective - then the army does not have a good chance of winning. These same five factors, when taken together, also determine whether you will be able to overcome the challenges you face in your life. If you do not have a motivating sense of purpose; if you have no real understanding of your physical and psychological limitations; if you're in a position where your options are severely limited; if you do not have personal leadership skills; if your habits and practices are inconsistent or ineffective - then you will have an almost impossible time trying to change your situation. When you understand how the five factors play into your situation, you will gain an elevated perspective of your situation. You'll be able to see how likely your chances for change are. |