Tactics

Plain and simple, there’s no replacement for taking action. It’s only by taking action that you manipulate your environment so that you can generate new results.

But in order to achieve a certain outcome, taking action isn’t enough. You need to take the right actions, and that’s where I want to introduce you to a larger framework:

Goals, strategies, and tactics.

When my mentor Jim Bunch broke this down for me, it completely changed my life. For years I was busy taking action but I wasn’t getting anywhere with it, spinning my wheels knowing I was capable of more than I was achieving. That was until I started making an extra effort to connect my actions with a goal. It's this alignment of action that actually contributed to positively changing my life. 

While it is all about action, the framework has to start with the goal (or desired outcome). It’s the inspiring result you want to bring into your reality. Once you’ve outlined that, then you determine the strategy that is most likely to bring you to achieving that outcome, and within that strategy you identify the action steps, or tactics, that help you execute the strategy. 

The impact tactics have on your life are determined by two things: The alignment they have toward your goals, and the clarity you have with what you need to execute. You generate the alignment by starting with the goals and strategies, and you create clarity by getting more detailed about what the actions are themselves:

The first criteria for high-quality tactics are they need to be specific. This means that you need to add more details and measurement around the action so that it cannot be interpreted incorrectly, rationalized, or compromised. The mind wants to take the path of least resistance. If you lack clarity or leave gray area, the mind will unconsciously fill it with excuses. So to be more effective, the action isn't just a commitment to reading more, but reading 10 pages of a nonfiction book. It’s not setting the intention to work out more, but doing 3 sets of your full body circuit. More specificity leads to more clarity.  

Specificity also requires that you’re clear on the frequency with which you do it. This helps you determine how often you’re going to be taking action and with what consistency. It’s not enough to do things once and expect a result, they need to be done repeatedly. This expands the action to reading 10 pages of a nonfiction book every day before bed, or  doing 3 sets of your full body circuit 5 times a week. It comes together to make up what you do.

What’s more important though is how you do it. It’s not enough to just say you’re committed and leave it at that. In order for tactics to work for you, you need to take reliable action. And that’s where the extra effort of putting together an action plan helps you to actually follow through on it.

You get clear on when you’re going to take action, and what will prompt or remind you to do it. You also find ways to optimize the systems around the action so that your environment supports you to follow through on the tactics. Like making your bed and putting your book on your pillow, or having a reading club you’re a part of that consistently checks in on your reading progress. Or having a specific exercise program written out, by you or by a coach, and making that program easily accessible on your phone.. And communicating with your partner that you have an intention to get to the gym and you want them to respect that.

Not all actions are made the same. When you reverse engineer them from goals and strategies (making them tactics), and have specificity and a system of execution behind them, you become much more likely to actually reach your goals!