"Therefore, I say: know the other and know the self, and in one hundred battles, there will be no danger. Know not the other, yet know the self, there will be one victory for each defeat. Know neither the other nor the self, and for every battle, there will be defeat."
- Sun Tzu

This passage summarizes Sun Tzu's general principles for planning attacks. In order to achieve total victory, the general must understand both the enemy and his army. He must understand both sides' strengths and weaknesses. He must know the enemy's numbers and his own numbers.

Total victory requires total knowledge. It is only by understanding both sides that the general can avoid battle and achieve a profitable victory.

This same principle applies to you. Know where you are strong, where you have the advantage, and know where you do not, where you are weak. Know also where your enemies are weak. Where do they not have the advantage? Where do they struggle? What is easy for you, but difficult for them?

It is only through gaining knowledge and understanding that you can create a clear, more complete picture of how to move forward.

"Therefore, there are five factors to knowing who will win:

1. One who knows if he is able to  fight or not able to fight will win.
2. One who knows how to use the many and the few will win.
3. One whose upper and lower ranks share the same sense of purpose will win.
4. One who, prepared, awaits the unprepared will win.
5. One whose general is able and whose ruler does not govern will win."

​With these five factors, one knows the way of victory."
- Sun Tzu

In this very important passage, Sun Tzu tells us the five factors of knowing who will win, reiterating the five factors he mentions in the beginning. The first factor requires positioning, which relates to Ground. The second factor requires organization, which relates to Methods. The third factor requires to timing and patience, which relates to Heaven. The fourth factor refers to purpose, which relates to Tao. And the fifth factor relates to the general, which obviously refers to the General.

Each of these factors is important when it comes to planning attacks. One can only plan an attack if one is able to attack. One can only plan an attack if one knows how to use his forces properly. One can only plan an attack if the troops are united and the objectives are clear. One can only plan a successful attack if the enemy is unprepared. And one can only plan successful attacks if the general is able to take command and not let the ruler interfere.

In your own life, the five factors still apply and can be restated this way:

1. Those who know if they are able to make a move or not make a move will succeed.
2. Those who know how to adapt to having many or few resources will succeed.
3. Those who have a strong sense of purpose will succeed.
4. Those who, prepared, await opportunities for taking action will succeed.
5. Those who are capable and do not let their idealism override their available options will succeed.

​It's in trying to follow these principles that one advances further and further in their endeavors and achieve greater and greater success.  

"Therefore, there are three ways the ruler [can] make an army's situation suffer:

1. By not knowing the army's inability to advance, yet calling for an advance, or not knowing the army's inability to withdraw, yet calling for withdrawal. This is called 'tying up the army.'
   
2. By not knowing the army's matters, yet governing the army the same [way he would govern his own administration]. As a rule, the army officers will be confused.
   
3. By not knowing the army's chain of command, yet appointing army positions the same [way he would his own administration]. As a rule, the army officers will be distrustful.
   

If the army is confused and distrustful, then problems with all the neighboring rulers will  arrive. This is called 'a disorderly army leading [another to] victory."
- Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu here is making a distinction between the role of the general and the role of the ruler. As we said in a previous line, the role of the general is to ensure the security of the nation. However, ensuring the security of the nation does not just mean protecting the nation against foreign enemies; it also implies understanding how the ruler himself may put the nation in danger.

The source of this danger comes from ignorance. If the ruler doesn't understand the army's situation or structure, then the officers and soldiers will be confused and suspicious. If they are confused and suspicious, and the neighboring rulers notice, then the neighboring rulers will take advantage of this disorder in the army and attack.

For Sun Tzu, this danger cannot simply be fixed by gaining more knowledge. Because an army's situation is extremely dynamic, it requires the command of someone (the general) who can constantly keep tabs on the army's positioning. (To echo the first line of The Art of War, warfare is one of the most, if not the most, important profession of the nation.) Thus, the general should be given near-total command over the army.

Just as you are the general of your life, you are also the ruler of your life, which plays a different role and thus requires a different mindset. As ruler, you are responsible for cultivating the Tao - your sense of purpose, your aspirations, your values.

As general, though, you are responsible for putting the pieces together and moving towards fulfilling your purpose using the resources available to you. Your job as general is to come up with a plan and adapt it as necessary.

If you get too stuck on your purpose; if you become too stubborn or insistent; if you do not know when or how to back off, yield, or advance; if you become too preachy or self-righteous - then you'll find it very difficult to keep your future secure.

Know your purpose and cultivate it; use it to guide your strategy. But know when your strategy has to change; don't stubbornly hold onto plans. Always listen to what the Ground is offering you.

"The general is the nation's support. If this support is whole, the nation will be strong. If this support is broken, then the nation will be weak."
- Sun Tzu

This line reiterates the theme of the last line in Book 2. For Sun Tzu, the general is not simply responsible for following the ruler's orders or for winning battles. He is responsible for keeping the nation safe and secure. This should be top of mind for the general.

Thus, whatever strategy the general devises must fall in line with keeping the nation secure. This is yet another reason why the general must try to find a way to win without doing battle, as every battle, every confrontation, risks the security of the nation.

As general of your own life, you must also think about making your future secure. Strategy requires thinking ahead, making sure to not make decisions that place yourself in a worse or tighter position than before.

Always ask yourself where a certain decision will lead you. Will that purchase leave you with less money in the future - money that you could use for something more urgent? Will that harsh comment you make to your significant other help your relationship, or cause a wedge?

Keeping your future secure should be top of mind for your decision-making. Always think about whether or not you'll end up in a better or worse position if you make a certain decision.

"Therefore, the rule for military operations is

• If ten [times the enemy's numbers], then surround him.
• If five, then attack him.
• If double, then divide him.
• If equal, then be able to battle him.
• If fewer, then be able to guard against him.
• If unequal, then be able to avoid him.

Thus, a smaller enemy's stubbornness is a larger enemy's catch."
- Sun Tzu

Here we return to Sun Tzu's mathematical way of viewing warfare. For Sun Tzu, warfare essentially comes down to two things: numbers and economics.

If the army has the numbers on its side, then it has more options than the enemy does. And if the army can reduce its expenses while making war more expensive for the enemy, it can drive the enemy to defeat while keeping its gains intact.

The key to achieving this is by being able to adapt according to the enemy. If the enemy is larger, then the army must be extremely flexible, which is the meaning of Sun Tzu's line: "Thus, a smaller enemy's stubbornness is a larger enemy's catch." What Sun Tzu is essentially saying is that if a small enemy is too stubborn, too unwilling to avoid the enemy or yield territory, it will be defeated by a larger one.

In your own life, you must know if you are smaller or larger than the enemy. Do you have the authority to make decisions? Do you have the advantages to speak up and be heard? Do you have a strong network of support? Do you have the research and the knowledge to make strong arguments? Do you have the money that's going to allow you survive?

If you are too weak to fight battles or take on endeavors, you have to have the patience and intelligence to avoid taking action. The best move is simply to prepare yourself - to build your skills, knowledge, network, and resources - so that you can be in a position to make moves.

    

"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.  

"Therefore, a skilled military operation subdues the enemy's army without doing battle, takes the enemy's city without attacking, and defeats the enemy's nation without drawing [the affair] out."
- Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu here is reiterating his economical strategy as described in Book 2. The overall question a general should ask himself is: How can we win with the least amount of bloodshed and expense?  This question must be at the forefront of every decision he makes.

As we looked at in the previous passage, it doesn't happen by attacking the enemy's strong defense head on; that is the worst option a general can take. Rather, it happens by focusing on the enemy's strategy and attempting to thwart it.

You can ask yourself a similar question in your own situation: How can I succeed with the least amount of expense - of time, effort, or money? How can you make winning as easy and as profitable as possible?

This happens by looking at your enemies and focusing on their strategy. How do they operate? What are their goals? Then you can coordinate your moves to try to thwart their plans.

Doing this, your moves become strategic, adapting to the enemy and using the least amount of resources to move forward.

"The rule for attacking a walled city is to do so if there is no other option. To ready siege towers and armored vehicles takes three months to complete. To build earthen mounds will take another three months. If the general, not winning, gets angry and sends his troops like ants to attack the walled city, one third of his officers and soldiers will be killed, and yet the city still will not be taken. This is the disaster of attacking [a walled city]."
- Sun Tzu

Attacking a strong defense head on, for Sun Tzu, should only be done if there are no other options available. And even more, if attacking a powerful defense head on is the only option left, then it does not speak well for an army's chances for victory.

Sun Tzu's point here is very clear: the army must always seek to cut down the enemy's position, not to attack the enemy head on. One should try to avoid as much as possible fighting a strong defense.

In your own life, this principle is true. Never attack someone or something head on. Never engage in a battle where your opponent may have the strong defense. Never face an opponent in his or her own territory.

"Thus, the superior army cuts down [the enemy's] plans. Next it cuts down [the enemy's] alliances. Next it cuts down [the enemy's] army. Last it attacks a walled city."
- Sun Tzu

It is important to read this passage not as detailing a sequence of steps (first this, then that), but a conditional series - i.e. if the army cannot cut down the enemy's plan, then it must cut down the enemy's allies; if it can't cut down the allies, it must cut down the enemy. The last option, then, is to attack a walled city.

Sun Tzu's use of the word "cut down" (fa) brings up the imagery of a farmer with an ax, cutting down a tree. Just as one works at a tree with an ax to bring it down, an army must work to make strategic cuts that prevent the enemy from firming up his strategy.

If the enemy is able to firm up a strategy, then the next move is to make strategic cuts that prevent the enemy from firming up his alliances. And if the enemy is able to firm up alliances, then the next move is to make strategic cuts that prevent the enemy from uniting his army.

Sun Tzu goes in depth on what these "strategic cuts" look like, but the important principle to understand is that they should be designed to prevent the unity and growth of the enemy.

When the army prevents the enemy's strategy from firming up, it essentially prevent his ability to make movements. When the army prevents the enemy's alliances from firming up, it prevents his ability to gain support. When the army prevents the enemy from uniting his army, this prevents the army from coordinating his soldiers effectively.

You must have the same mindset towards your own endeavors. As I've said previously, you face enemies everyday, whether you are aware of them or not. Your goal is not to fight them head on, but to make "strategic cuts" that thwart their power.

For example, your coworker who is competing with you for that promotion - what are subtle moves you can make to deter him from vying for it? How can you isolate him from any allies he has?

Or with your eating habits - how can you change your environment to prevent those urges for eating? What healthy foods can you substitute for the unhealthy ones?

Attacking head on should be your last option. Always strive to make subtle moves that cut down your enemy's position. 

"In general, the principles for war operations are

• An intact nation is best, a broken nation is inferior to this
• An intact army is best, a broken army is inferior to this
• An intact battalion is best, a broken battalion is inferior to this
• Intact soldiers are best, broken soldiers are inferior to this
• An intact unit is best, a broken unit is inferior to this

Therefore, winning a hundred battles is not the best skill. Not doing battle, yet still subduing the enemy's army, is the best skill."
- Sun Tzu

The title of Book 3 translates to "Planning Attacks." Here Sun Tzu is focused on describing the principles for developing attacks that will achieve victory in the most economical way possible.

As with any plan, one must define what one's aims are. For Sun Tzu, the aim is simple: to take everyone - ourselves and the enemy - intact. That is, to subdue the enemy without doing battle or destroying him. Without doing battle, because this uses up our resources and maximizes the chances of destruction, and without destroying, because this prevents us from using the enemy's resources.

Therefore, for Sun Tzu, the art of war entails the art of winning without needing to do battle. That is the most important skill for Sun Tzu's ideal general to attain.

In your own life, it is important to master the art of winning without battle. Our culture idealizes fighting as the path to success, happiness, and fulfillment. We idolize competition and repeat the mantra of "getting back up when you've been knocked down."

But the truth is, we all have limited resources at our disposal. Limited time, limited money, limited energy, limited space. With every battle we fight, we lose some of these precious resources, which either ruins our ability to enjoy our victories or makes us martyrs to our causes.

The daily wars we experience include

• Maintaining or improving our health and physique
• Overcoming our insecurities
• Getting recognized at work or in the market
• Developing healthy, fulfilling relationships
• Controlling our finances
• Contributing something important or impactful to our community or the world

What if there were a way to win these wars without having to expend so much energy, time, and resources? What if winning these wars didn't require so much fighting, frustration, anger, or disappointment? This is what Sun Tzu's principles are aiming to help us develop.

But it starts with wanting to win this way.