Life gets cluttered. Unread magazines pile up, there are too many open tabs on the computer’s browser, the workbench is buried under unfinished projects.
As the worn adage goes, “You can do anything. You just can’t do everything.” While I have yet to prove the first part, I am absolutely certain about the second part. The truism that we shouldn’t spread ourselves too thin has been stated repeatedly, in very many ways. And it is, perhaps, the fundamental basis for all strategy. And obvious in every one's life.
Implicit in the idea that “strategy is fundamentally about allocating resources” is the underlying truth that resources are limited. One has access to a limited, or finite, amount of time, money, energy, materials, mental focus, people, . . .
In fact, if resources were unlimited, perhaps strategy would be unnecessary. We could put our energies into every good cause and intention simultaneously.
The reality is, in day-to-day life, resources are definitely limited — sometimes greatly so. This means that to say yes to something often means we must say no to something else.
"Strategy 101 is all about choices.” “The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”
— Michael Porter, Harvard School of Business
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things we have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”
― Steve Jobs, Apple
“Focus and reject: . . . “switch on” the issue at hand and “switch off” almost everything else. To switch off is more important than to switch on. . . . If you can’t figure out how to push the off switch on 99% of the routine stuff, then you mustn’t delude yourself into thinking you’ve pushed the on switch for your big break-out towards whatever.”
― Tom Peters, management consultant, co-author of In Search of Excellence
So perhaps the fundamental lesson of strategy for our everyday lives is:
Once you know what it is you want to do, as much as possible, you need to stop doing anything else.
We must choose which of many things to do. And it’s these choices that define our lives.
I’m enjoying it so far. Keep it coming!