On Thinking Strategically

I recently conducted a break-out group for Project Lemon-Aid (a free monthly event for job seekers in the Des Moines metropolitan area) on the subject of strategic job searches. Strategic thinking is a natural strength of mine (as validated by the Clifton Strengthsfinder Assessment!), so it’s quite natural for me to view any goal strategically, and to ask lots of “What if. . .” and “What about this?” kinds of questions.

Others have told me that any phrase including the word “strategic” sounds like a very complex business buzz phrase. But strategic planning, whether it’s about your business, your life, or a job search basically comes down to answering three questions:

“Where do you want to be?” This is your goal, your vision. What would your perfect business, life or job look like if you could create it tomorrow, exactly as you would like it to be, and without regard to whether it’s possible. Do not censor any ideas! There are three reasons for this. First, although it may not be possible, it may trigger ideas that are possible. Second, even if it’s not possible tomorrow, it may be possible in a year, or more. If you know what “perfect” looks like, you can develop a plan to get there. Finally, perhaps your dream isn’t as impossible as you think.

“Where are you now?” Be brutally honest (but not cruel) here. If you’re not honest about where you currently are in relation to your goal, it will be hard to answer the third question, because it will be based upon faulty information.

“How do you get from Point A to Point B?” The best way to answer this question is to begin at the end, and work backwards. Becoming an attorney was an overwhelming goal to me. But when I worked backwards, I knew that to be an attorney, I had to pass the bar. To take the bar, I had to graduate from an accredited law school, and so forth, until I got to a “first step” (request information) that was easy to implement. From there, each step built on the one before, making it not overwhelming, but instead, quite possible.

So don’t let the idea of being strategic in the pursuit of your goals scare you. Answer the three basic questions, and take it step by step.

Runaway Bride

I have this weird knack for taking random scenes from movies and applying them to completely different pieces of my own (or others’) life.

I recently watched The Runaway Bride again. This movie, featuring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, is about a journalist named Ike Graham (Gere) who writes a less-than-flattering story about Maggie Carpenter (Roberts) and her penchant for leaving men at the altar. Predictably, when Ike goes to Maggie’s small town to defend his story, he falls in love with her, and they are set to marry. He is standing at the altar when Maggie starts down the aisle toward him. She hesitates a moment, and he locks eyes with her, forcing her to focus on him and ignore everything else going on around her. As long as she does that, she moves down the aisle toward him. However, when a guest takes a flash photo, it momentarily blinds Ike, and he breaks eye contact with Maggie. Immediately, she loses her focus and bolts.

Running your business or your life is a little bit like that, I’ve found. As long as I can stay focused on my goals and the tasks at hand, I can move forward towards that goal. When I am distracted by life’s little (and sometimes not-so-little) “interruptions,” it’s easy for me to lose my focus and get off track. Depending on the distraction, it’s sometimes hard to get refocused, and I end up wasting valuable time.

That’s why visualization of your goal every day is so critical. Visualization is not a valuable tool because it magically makes things appear in your life; it is valuable because it keeps you focused on the goal and its achievement. Failure to visualize can cause the goal to become fuzzy; you will lose focus and can, like Maggie, eventually abandon the dream.

Stay focused; achieve your dreams.