Strategy

In his bestseller Visioneering, Andy Stanley describes the title’s meaning as “the course one follows to make dreams a reality. It is the process whereby ideas and convictions take on substance… [I]t is the engineering of a vision.” This, in my vernacular, is a strategy.

A strategy is taking a concept and turning it into an invention. It is wanting to go to the moon and figuring out how to get there. It is wanting to be a doctor and designing a curriculum of courses and practice that will get you there. It is wanting to cross a marathon’s finish line and designing the course you will run to get you there. Stated simply, the strategy is turning your goal into a plan of action.

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A strategy for a marathon is pretty simple, mainly because I and countless others help you outline a training program, advise you on challenges, coach you on overcoming them, and encourage you to push through. Indeed, the rest of this book is your marathon strategy.

If you want to be a doctor, find out everything you need to know about becoming one. How much schooling is required? What is required to get into medical school? How intense is the studying? How much does it cost? How does one pay for it? After school, what comes next? Internship? Residency?

The answers to these questions are easily obtained. Ask a doctor. Ask the Medical Society. Ask the medical school admissions office. In other words, understand everything about getting from now to your goal.

Next, devise your plan (some elements of which are described in upcoming posts about Specificity, Measurability and Commitment).

For example, the first small goal is to get into college, which is a prerequisite to get into medical school. To get into college, one must perform sufficiently on the SAT. How many hours will you study?