There are those who plan and those who strategize. It is a valid question to ask oneself, which am I?
I know for the better part of my life I have been neither. I adhered to the more "go along, get along," school of thought. Perhaps I should say, absence of thought. Most of my thinking about life in those days was in hindsight.
I am learning to strategize; to plan with purpose and intent. It is one thing to set a goal and work toward it. It is another to set a series of goals toward a larger plan, or vision, then outline specific was to approach each one of them. There needs to be cohesion, synchronicity and timing built into strategy, and adaptability must be baked in. Not all is going to go as planned, so plan on that, too.
The internet is filled with how-to videos and posts, references and guides, bullet point lists and must-dos and never-dos. It is exhausting. My advice on researching the best way to strategize for your own vision is to do so, exactly as phrase states: strategize for your own vision.
Start broad with what that vision is, or is there to accomplish and whittle it down by asking, "OK, what does that mean; what does that look like in practice?"
You will begin to identify the infrastructure your vision is going to take. Work backwards from there keeping a good list, and once you're traced your steps backward from the finished product envisioned in your mind, all the way back to where you sit today, rip it apart.
I do not mean to shred it or wad it up and shout "Kobe!" as you fire it toward the wastepaper basket. I mean break out each separate goal or step in the process you've identified. Categorize them into phases. What few things must you to start your journey to your vision? What about the next phase and the next? While you do this look for redundancy, what work is being duplicated that you can eliminate. Also look for gaps in your plan. Maybe you missed a step in bridging from Phase 1 to Phase 2. Maybe you missed a key component of a step in one of your first few goals that prevent there from even being a Phase 1.
Reorganize your new, leaner and specific sequence of steps, goals and phases into a linear plan. Chart your trajectory and evaluate it all for a tenth time. (There will be a hundred thousand more, as this is a continuous process). Find ways to increase efficiency and eliminate what's unnecessary.
By now you should be seeing that your vision, while possible, is going to take more work than you thought and will likely take longer to achieve than you first imagined, but fear
not. You already miles ahead of where you first started. Now you have a strategy, one that is robust and target-oriented. You have built in flexibility
and nuance you will need to mold your strategy as it unfolds, and you've grown increasingly committed to the vision, because now it is tangible, it's a framework or a blueprint. All that is left is to begin Step 1 of Phase 1.
About the author: I am someone who specializes in finding the difficult path and taking it. If there is a harder way to do something, I am going to find it. Suffice it to say, I don't want to be that guy anymore and so I am working on changing my thought processes and behaviors to be successful in that pursuit, and soon others. Most of what I share might not be "expert" advice. It's more of an average guy's guide to doing things smarter, hopefully earlier in life than I learned to.