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Iceni Magazine | March 28, 2024

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Developing Strategic Thinking

Developing Strategic Thinking

The ability to think strategically is something that can be honed and refined over time with various training techniques and methods well suited to this goal.

This begs the question though, why think strategically? Before we answer this, we need to unpick what we mean by the word strategy. Oxford Languages defines Strategy as “a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim”. Further definitions point to strategy as a means of ensuring success in contexts as varied as war, business, politics, industry and sport. The word itself has explicitly militaristic connotations, the modern term deriving from the ancient Greek “stratēgos”, meaning generalship.

From this survey, we can see that honing the ability to think in a strategic manner is especially significant and beneficial when it comes to goal setting and project management of all types. So, whether you’re an ambitious entrepreneur or a committed athlete, the ability to think strategically will benefit you in marshalling your faculties towards your goal. Below we take a look at some of the tried and tested methods people from all eras have used to develop this fundamental faculty of success.

Gaming

Often good strategic thinking comes about through an ineffable synthesis between our left and right brain hemispheres. That is, our logical deductive side and our intuitive creative side. Activities that give this connection a good workout can increase our ability to forecast outcomes in life and work circumstances, as well as enabling us to recognise when we need to stop and rethink our approach. Games of all types are great for this, though certain online formats such as casino games like blackjack or mind games like chess leverage this type of synthesis more explicitly. Developing your skills in such games will enable you to judge situations with greater accuracy, enabling you to optimise your response in real time. This has significant benefits over simply reacting, as you will be able to synthesise your long term and immediate goals.

Perhaps the best known game for cultivating strategic insight is Chess. This game has been played in one form or another for almost 2 millennia by generals, rulers and philosophers, all of whom credit it with the cultivation of strategic and tactical abilities. There’s a popular myth about high level chess players that they are able to plan a dozen or so moves ahead in a game. While this is not impossible, this type of forward planning alone confers minimal benefits to a player, as with each successive move the game changes trajectory. Instead, truly skilled chess players are forecast into the future (left brain) and follow their intuition (right brain) in order to achieve victory.

yoga

Meditation

It is impossible to plan for an outcome you are unaware of. In business and war, successful strategists know there is no substitute for doing your homework and gathering as much information as possible on the circumstances surrounding your stated goal or project. In a more foundational sense, this is true for how we move through the world. If we lack awareness as to the situations we find ourselves in, we will be unable to make informed choices as to what to do next. The cultivation of clear mental states has a long tradition in philosophical and religious practises, and it is from within these rich traditions that we can learn methods of improving our basic intelligence. Meditation is currently experiencing a surge in popularity in the secular west under the banner of Mindfulness. Immensely successful apps like Headspace make this practise both approachable and accessible for novices. 

A common misconception around meditation is that it is about relaxation, and while it is true that meditative states are strongly associated with stress reduction in studies, this is a side effect rather than the goal. Meditative states of awareness are essentially about developing clarity and concentration. This is achieved by stilling the mind and decreasing discursive thought. In-so-doing, meditation enables us to perceive and respond from a place of clarity and insight. It is no wonder that warrior traditions from the Shaolin monks of northern China to the Samurai of Japan swore by the martial and strategic benefits of meditation.


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