Chris! I told you not to do that. That is going to complicate everything.” “They said that would be perfectly acceptable.” “Chris, don’t you know what you’ve done?” “No, what have I done? This can’t be the way. I’ll never get them all to go. There’s no way I can get them to stay. This is impossible!” “Yes, Chris, it looks like it is impossible, but you can make it possible if you try.” “I have to try?” “Yes, of course, you do. That’s part of being human. You can’t just give up, especially when you’re working on something so important.” “What if I can’t do it?” “Chris, you can do anything if you try. You just have to set your mind to it. You always have, don’t you remember? I remember when you used to play with the scraps of paper and the rubber band. You made airplane wings and you were trying to fly them off the chair. And then when you didn’t get the hang of that you decided that maybe you could fly. And you did, all the way to the window. I saw it with my own eyes. Anything is possible if you really want it.” “I never knew you saw that.” “I saw you fly off the chair and off the table and off the window. It was a most impressive performance. And you were only about four or five.” “It’s just so wonderful to hear you say that because I really do believe it. You’re right, all I have to do is try. I can do this. I can do anything.” Just remember that you already are what you’re after. Don’t give up, even when you don’t succeed the first time. Don’t start something unless you’re absolutely sure you can do it. And be patient. Wait for the time to come along when you’re ready. Just keep trying. You can do it. I know you can. Okay, the other person is you, standing somewhere with a problem you want to solve. What should you do next? Here’s the strategy. The first thing is to make a very clear, accurate description of the problem. Remember: It’s the job of the description to give you the essence of the problem, but it’s the job of the solution to complete it. What’s essential in a problem is that all possible solutions be considered. You have to get down to a simple abstraction where all the variations can be explored. In most cases, that will not be the whole problem, because a complete solution cannot fit inside a word. The next thing to do is to recognize that you’re attempting an impossible task. The thing is impossible, but you must try. Just don’t give up! In fact, that is your first step. The second step is to get rid of old prejudices. If it’s a new problem that you haven’t had before, this is a valuable exercise, but sometimes the task may be so difficult that you have no choice but to tackle it again. It will take a lot more determination. Maybe the first time around, you just didn’t have the fire of determination to get through it. Now that you understand that the job will be impossible, the real job is to create a strategy. Now’s the time for optimism and determination. Remember, it will take more than one try to solve a problem. Strategy is needed for a second try and for a third, fourth, and maybe even a fifth try. So, what strategy should you employ? First, you have to make the complete description. A complete description is essential in a strategy. And a complete description will help you to define a strategy. You have to define your strategy before you begin to apply it. You have to write down your strategy before you try to use it. It’s your strategy that you’re going to use, so make it clear. What will it consist of? Strategy can be a very general statement or it can be as specific as you wish. In a sense, it will be specific because you’ll write down that strategy, but the word “strategy” will be generic and will be your handle for the process of solving the problem. Make it a concise statement. When you first think of it, it will be a long statement. You have to practice, working with many different problems, coming up with short generic statements that capture the essence of the problem. The objective is to use your strategy on the first try. Strategy can have components. There will be separate components in your strategy. One will be your means to acquire the essential resources. The resources are the material means that you need to employ to get a result. Those can be inanimate objects such as a map or a diagram, a document, a book, or even even a notebook. Or it can be the resources that you have, such as time, your intellectual skills, and many, many others. It might even be an acquired ability like a strategy that you learned before. Then you need the resources to get results, to get to your objective. Resources can be knowledge, money, physical objects, and so on. Resources are the means to get a result. You have a strategy to get resources. Then you have to get those resources to work for you. Resources can be used directly, but usually resources can be combined or organized to get the results. One part is in place, but it won’t work until you get the resources to function with it. There’s a plan to get those resources to work for you. Then you have to get them to work for you, all of them. And when you’re done, you want the result. Now you can see the components that are in the strategy. You have to know all of these elements in order to succeed. The question is, how do you achieve these results? What are the steps, or components? This is where strategy often begins to form. What are the parts, how do you do it? Strategy is in place. Now you have to think about each component in the strategy and consider how you can do it. Now, to develop the strategy, we have to look at each component. What’s it look like? How do I get resources? What are the resources? What do I do with them? What do I do with them? What are the steps? Strategy is in place. What are the things that I have to do? You’ll do something with resources and you’ll get results with the resources. The strategy has a plan for strategy. Now what can you do with your strategy? Strategy is in place. Strategy for the strategy is a plan. Now the plan is what? What are the components that you have to consider? What are you going to do? How are you going to get results? The strategy has a plan for strategy. What is the plan of the strategy? Remember that your strategy might be too general. The problem is that once you have that, you have to determine a strategy to get it done. You have to think of the plan. Strategy is in place, but you have to develop a plan. How do you develop a plan? You get a plan by considering the elements of your strategy. What will you do? You might have a general list of things that you have to do. When you know your strategy, you must understand the components that you have to take into account to achieve your strategy. It’s a process of going back and forth. You need to put in the effort to do this. This is what you must do in order to get the results