Want To See Results? Apply Strategy First (+ Cat Update!)

(Update: Tipsy died on the 4th of November. Not from his back injury would you believe. Why is the loss of a pet one of the worst things in the world?) 

Remember last week I told you Tipsy cat broke his back.

He’s HOME. (Not shouting. Caps intentionally used to display signs of glee and happiness.)

Because he can hardly walk at the mo there are various Kitty Nurse duties I’ll be undertaking for the next couple of months. He has achieved what all cats really want: his personal Nurse/Chef/Maid/Cleaner and yet he dares gives me a killer cat look.

My roles and responsibilities include supporting him to use the loo (his loo, not the human loo!)

He won’t shame himself or lower is furry standards to go in the lovely tray in his temporary prison (cage) which sits in the living room, so he has to be transported to his preferred cat litter tray away at the other end of the house.

Why don’t I just move the cage? Tactic. Tried it. He raised the dead with his howls.

This sounds an easy task, huh? Moving a cat from one room to another.

Nope, it’s a teeny kitty military operation.

A mission.

And required some careful planning as he can’t be picked up.

A strategy had to be in place before the tactical maneuvers.

Strategy:  the art of planning and directing overall military operations and movements in a war or battle.

Tactic: the art or science of disposing or managing military forces to best advantage against the enemy.

Okay, I’m not at war with the Tipsy cat and he’s not my enemy (but I’m his apparently at the moment) and more importantly…

What on the F-ur has this got to do with your life?

Let me give you some examples of tactics before strategy…

There’s this one: small biz owner jumping on every social media tool (tactics), hitting submit and publish without having a strategy in place for why they are using social media in the first place.

Here’s another:  trainer launching a course or event without knowing if people are hungry for it and no strategy to find out, left with nobody signing up for their event.

How about this: solo biz owner starting a blog then having no strategy for what they are actually blogging for.

Or this: business owner starts a newsletter, with no strategy about what why they hell they are sending a newsletter in the first place.

Try this: person who hates their job applies for anything, as opposed to working out a strategy to achieving employment in a role they love.

I could go on, and on, and on.

There is nothing wrong with the tactics, you need strategy and tactics. The problem is applying them before working out a strategy.

Strategy comes first.

I mean we wouldn’t just pitch up at the airport and ask the first airline pilot we clap eyes upon to take us on holiday, would we? No, we would plan it, work out the details, choose a place that fits our needs, decide why we want to go to that place specifically, discover things we would like to see when we get there, We would probably visualise ourselves being there before we actually are.

We wouldn’t just turn up in our Lycra at the start of a marathon having done no training, preparation or spent time breaking in of our snazzy new trainers, would we? No, we would need a strategy in place and then work out with tactics we’ll apply so on the day we arrive we know we have some hope of completing the darn thing.

A strategy is laying out the big picture (the wood) and tactics are what you apply to achieve the big picture (the trees).

First is the vision: what you want to achieve, be, do, make happen or the dream (includes the why).

Second is the strategy: what needs to happen to achieve the vision.

The third is the tactics: how you will achieve the strategy (what are you going to use and apply?)

Where are you applying tactics which aren’t working at present, do you have a strategy?

If not, jump back a teeny little and take some time mapping out the big picture and then ask yourself what are the best tactics to apply.