Do you have everything you want? Do you have the resources to close the gap?
If the answer to either of those questions is no, you need strategy.
Strategy is what we need when our default won't deliver our dreams. It's not a document, a snappy slogan, or an infographic. It's not something you have—it's something you do.
When you're strategic, you make intentional, goal-oriented choices that override your personal and organisational defaults. You make daily decisions and trade-offs aligned with your overall direction; as those choices accumulate, you see results.
It sounds easy, but if it were, we wouldn't end the day wondering why we did everything but the things we care about the most. The least important things are loud, time-consuming, draining, and distracting. It's hard to hear the call of our bigger selves through all that noise.
The good news is that you get another go every day. Every time you decide how to spend your time, money, or attention, you make a choice. You'll likely make ten of them today.
Next time you make a decision, try asking these two questions.
- Why am I doing this? What is the outcome I'm hoping for?
- How can I change my approach to make that outcome more likely?
Do that once a day, and you're less likely to feel you're stagnating in a pool of apathetic mediocrity, letting down your childhood self, or drifting inside a purposeless void.
Til next week
A
Alicia McKay