Today’s lesson is so simple but so powerful it’s a classic.

STRATEGY will beat TACTICS 9 times out of 10.

Yesterday TACTICS won the games, but it might not have worked if I was able to apply my STRATEGY and be 2, 3 or 4% tighter with my shots… The games were not runaway victories…

Today was all about STRATEGY over TACTICS.

My opponent today has a TACTIC that he uses and I am sure it works for him – it’s the TACTIC of intimidation with a bump and grind interference game – the goal is to get in the person’s way as much as possible and get lets and strokes awarded and keep the other guy off his game and make sure he never gets to use his STRATEGY.

That works UNLESS someone has a STRATEGY to counter-act this TACTIC.

Growing up playing competitive Ice Hockey, a little intimidation and a few collisions from time to time brings back very fond memories…

So that TACTIC doesn’t work on me.

AND it works against the person who RELIES ON IT TO WIN, especially one who doesn’t have the talent or STRATEGY to adapt.

So I stuck to my STRATEGY and took the match in what must have been less than 15 minutes in total.

In case you want to know what the strategy is…

Just put the ball away from where you are – LITERALLY. That way he can’t be interfering with you if he’s chasing the ball all over the place! BECAUSE this is his TACTIC, he’s not used to running for the ball, so my shots don’t have to be as accurate which makes it EASIER for me to actually win.

It’s a great feeling when you can turn someone’s TACTIC against them – kind of like in Judo when you use the other person’s weight and momentum against them.

Fun stuff when you’re SMART enough to know the STRATEGY and then good enough to deploy it!

Now that I got the squash stuff out of the way, I guess the lesson for business and life is pretty self-evident, but just in case, here it is.

Whenever someone runs a pattern or TACTIC against you, there usually is a STRATEGY that can counteract it effectively – first, neutralising it and second, leveraging it to your advantage. If a competitor is TACTICAL and aggressive about a particular TACTIC, you can learn to counteract it and USE it to your advantage.

Competitors who are TACTICAL usually have 1, 2 or 3 TACTICS at most. With a STRATEGIC approach, you can easily win the game.

That’s Mastery.

Once achieved, you dictate the game, pace and outcome.

Onward and upward!
Dr Marc Dussault

Australia’s #1 Exponential Growth Strategist

P.S.

As I discuss in my books “Get The Best Grades With The Least Amount Of Effort” and the business person’s edition “Get The Best Business Results With The Least Amount Of Effort“, I play squash to expand my Circle Of Influence™.

As I do that in squash, I begin to see parallels and comparisons in my personal, financial, emotional and business lives that until that moment remained hidden. Those awakenings are priceless lessons in self-awareness that make the journey enlightening and rewarding beyond description.

I get to see and be with the best in the world doing what they do best. As I observe, as an ACTIVE PARTICIPANT in the process, I can extrapolate my own experiences, emotions, thoughts and feelings to other matches and situations as I simultaneously interpolate and interpret other people’s experiences within my own new, expanded Circle Of Influence™.

I urge you to do as I suggested a few days ago that you really should (if you’re not already doing it) engage in something OUTSIDE of work that inspires, motivates and empassions you to become the best at it.

This can be a sport, musical instrument, hobby or body of knowledge.

Start today and take one SMALL ACTION and you’ll soon realise you’re on the path to self-discovery that will embolden and empower you to consider boundless opportunities with timeless abandon.

When you’re ‘there’, someone will have to remind you that you’re “45″ and not a teenager running around a white room chasing a little black ball..

But it won’t matter – you won’t care because you’ll be having the time of your life, living it as you should – to the fullest, care free and with child-like abandon!