Strategies, Tactics, and Confusion

"Strategies" and "tactics" are not popular words.

Probably because they remind most people of a mandatory professional development meeting at work. Or maybe several.

But, they're important words when understood.

Because in the attention economy (a fun term for "everyone is at war for your attention"), people become derailed by tactics.

But first, a refresher.

A "strategy" is an overall plan of action that you take towards your goals. It doesn't change over time.

For example, a strategy to lose weight would be to make movement a part of your daily life.

A "tactic" is the actual thing you do, in service of the strategy. So, tactics that serve our movement strategy could be running, bike riding, ice skating, Zumba, and a number of other things.

Tactics can change and even become obsolete. But the strategy remains consistent over time.

The problem is, people jump from tactic to tactic without ever considering a strategy.

Let's take a child who is struggling with piano and not enjoying it. Many parents tend to fall into a tactic frenzy.

It must be the choice of music - let's change the repertoire. 

That didn't work - let's change teachers.

That didn't work either - maybe we're putting too much pressure on. Let's just stay in a holding pattern and hope for the best.

In the end, the final tactic is "taking a break" from lessons that turns into a permanent break.

Life can be simpler with a strategy. Simple strategies in this example could be:

*Make music practice a priority every day.

*Ensure my child understands the material and what needs to happen to move forward.

When you have a strategy, it makes deciding on the tactics much easier. In this example, parent tactics that serve the strategy include:

*Scheduling time on the calendar for practice every day, and sticking to it.

*Talking with the teacher, and applying the teacher's recommendations.

*Making a habit of staying in the know about lesson materials and challenges. (I'm always a little surprised when a parent says "I know nothing about music" after their child has been taking lessons for half a decade).

*Checking in with the child to make sure things are running smoothly.

The tactics don't have to be perfect. And they can change. Long as you have a solid, logical strategy for them to support.

And so, whatever tactic you are using today in whatever you're doing, ask yourself: What is the strategy?

You'll probably learn something.