Get Out of Tactical Hell

you're not in control of the situation because you're thinking only of tactics you're only reacting to what the world gives you that is hell my friend and that is a hell that most people are involved in in my War book I had an idea because basically what I tried to do in the 33 strategies of war was to take kind of the great strategies the generals and military people have used throughout the century kind of these great patterns of thinking and strategizing and finding a way to connect it to our daily lives so how can I apply Napoleon Bonaparte in my office life in my in my daily work which wasn't easy for me but I worked very hard to create that and so delving so deeply into the military world into the world of warfare there's obviously one of the first things that you encounter is the difference between strategy and tactics and you think at first it's pretty much a military thing with limited application but the Deep more you think about it the more it actually it involves everything in the world going on it involves you personally it's not about armies and battles it's about how you think the difference is tactics involve react to what the other person the other side the enemy your Rivals your colleagues are presenting to you they're in your face they're doing a you have to think what do I do now all right I'm going to do B I'm going to react I'm going to go here or I'm gonna go there right and then they're going to react to what you do and then you're going to react to what they do and so it goes on and on on like a ping pong game going back and forth back and forth back and forth and you're never getting anywhere and your life's a mess you have no control over your career your boss isn't listening to you your ideas your Pub your marketing campaigns never really that kind of fizzle out Etc nothing ever kind of reaches the goals that you wanted to because you're locked in this goddamn tactical hell this ping pong game of I do a they do B I do see you have no control over it it's like the gauze or the fates are controlling you're like a puppet being held there you're not in control of the situation because you're thinking only of tactics you're only reacting to what the world gives you that is hell my friend and that is a hell that most people are involved in all they ever do is React to what other people are doing and believe me I saw this in business it was a shocking experience for me to be on the board of directors of a company like American Apparel which was a very successful company in its day and to see these very powerful businessmen only able to react to the quarterly report to what Wall Street was saying to what the latest press release would say they couldn't get their heads out of their asses they couldn't look ahead and see one year down the road two years down the road where is the company heading how can I make a decision that maybe we'll burn the company more money in 12 months rather than just reacting to kind of pump up the quarterly report it's infesting all aspects of our world in politics Etc people are locked in tactical hell and the only way to get out of that hell of continual reaction and constant emotion is to think strategically so hell is here you're reacting back and forth strategies here you raised your mind up you're getting out of that hell and you're thinking further along and then there's Grand strategy which is a god-like power which is one of the greatest strategists in the world they reside that maybe only 20 or 30 of them in history but it's the ultimate area and what we should all be aiming for and what strategy basically is very simple out to find it for it it's the ability to raise your mind above the daily battles that you're facing and to be able to see longer terms say to yourself you know these are my interests this is what I need to do sometimes reacting is pointless all it is it trains me of energy I'm not going to react instead I'm just going to pretend it didn't happen I'm Gonna Go My Own Way all right that's one thing that could happen or you can say instead of reacting I'm gonna go so they hit me here and I hit the back I'm gonna go like that right because I figured out there's another way of approaching them from the side that's going to surprise them and suddenly they're going to react in a totally different way you've changed the Dynamics of the games because you're not thinking in straight lines you're trying to go around you're thinking of other ways of approaching the problem you're thinking in terms of six months eight months a year down the road is it important for me to get involved with this person to get involved with this Petty battle there's an expression in military terms which is now in our general language it's called a puric victory an empiric victory means you won this battle but it was so bloody and it cost you so much drama and so much blood and so much emotional energy that it wasn't worth it it's a victory that you win but in the end cost you more in winning than it would have been in actually losing and so many people in this world are involved in pure victories they do these Petty things on social media where they try and prove the other person is wrong and they they get involved in all these kind of emotional things and they maybe they win Etc but what kind of winning is that you look at the larger picture okay my winning is in two years I've positioned myself here for my company my book my business venture to be at this point that I determine is the maximal position of power right I'm gonna get there and then knowing that you can avoid all the little battles that people are throwing at you you know what really matters is this not this this this this I'm going to aim there it eliminates all this other useless energy that you're wasting in life fighting all of these battles Etc is giving you Direction and purpose and a goal and focus that will really really be powerful and then if you're able to lift your mind even further to a higher level to the Zen Master Level you're thinking five ten years down the road you're seeing down the road you're seeing the whole big picture you're seeing what I what was known as the Zeitgeist what's going on in the world right now all the major cultural Trends and you know that this is where the world is headed I'm going to be ahead of the curve I'm going to be like five years down the road I see where things are going in technology I'm going to create that now you have even a larger Vision like than most people and I compare it I compare it to climbing up right when you're at the foot of the mountain you have no perspective on the landscape all you can see are the trees the forests The Boulders Etc it's all a mess it's just a kind of a visual blur you climb up a mile up on that mountain and suddenly you look down you go wow I didn't see that I didn't notice that it's a totally different Vision right it's not like the the blurry picture it's not like that tactical Battlefield down below it's got this other perspective this other landscape okay you go two miles up above and suddenly it appears even different than below suddenly you're seeing more things you suddenly seeing a wider Vista you get to the top of the mountain you're seeing everything around you and you realize that what you saw down below wasn't reality it was this distorted picture the higher you go the clearer the picture of reality that you that you conform and so when you're locked in battles all the time all you're doing is getting emotional and you have no sense of what is really going on of what the reality is it's like the smoke from a battlefield is engulfing you the ability to lift your mind up gives you Clarity gives you a more realistic appraisal gives you greater perspective and it gives you the ultimate kind of power in this world

Channel: Robert Greene

Views: 115,859

Keywords: robert greene, robert greene books, the 33 strategies of war, war, strategy, strategic, tactics, tactic, destiny, thinking, reacting, tactical hell, warrior, long term thinking, short term thinking, youtube, nonfiction book, nonfiction, self help, self help books, books, author, sun tzu art of war, nonfiction books, sun tzu

Id: NfWqPjxm0SQ

Length: 8min 13sec (493 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 07 2023