Master Strategic Thinking in Life & Business - The Art of War (2,500 Years Old Wisdom)

today I'm going to summarize a book

written 2500 years ago despite that it

was written many years ago it is still

to this day one of the most studied

books by entrepreneurs military generals

politicians and athletes the book I'm

talking about is The Art of War

yes this is a book about war but the

lessons can be applied to your job

business and daily life after all

business is a modern day war if you run

a business or work for a business then

it is a book for you I have 24 lessons

so let's get started number one he will

win who knows when to fight and when not

to fight

a few months ago I found out that one of

my suppliers had sold me a service that

I absolutely didn't need they presented

it as if it were mandatory by law so I

bought it after almost a year I

accidentally discovered that that was a

lie that service cost me around 1 000

dollars

I got really angry when I found out

about it and sent them an email of

course they kept saying that I needed

that service after a few email exchanges

and phone calls I canceled my contract

with them and ended our cooperation I

didn't continue to argue with them

despite the fact that I had hard

evidence that they were being dishonest

if I pushed harder I would most likely

win the argument and my ego told me to

just do that but I didn't do it and

here's why

every argument every war every conflict

has a cost and many times the cost of

fighting doesn't justify the prize you

will win in this particular example if I

kept fighting I would have to spend

several days of my time hire someone to

defend my position plus the stress of

the entire process I had two choices I

could invest my time and energy into

that conflict and win one thousand

dollars

or invest the exact same time into my

business and win at least four to five

times more than that

this is why I just let it go now looking

back I still feel good about my decision

even if my ego keeps telling me that I

had to punish them but that punishment

would come with a heavy cost and even if

I won I would still lose

that's why sometimes it's just not worth

the fight so lesson number one is he

will win who knows when to fight and

when not to fight

number two

should the enemy strengthen his left

he will weaken his right

should he strengthen his right

he will weaken his left

if he sends reinforcements everywhere

he will be weak

everywhere

you've probably heard that

diversification in business and in

investing is the way to reduce risk but

here's the thing every great business

you see and use today such as YouTube

Instagram Facebook didn't diversify at

the beginning

they all found one thing and focused all

their resources on that and did it

better than everybody else once they

were successful then they started

diversifying so if you are starting

something new and have limited resources

diversification isn't the way to go if

you focus everywhere you will be weak

everywhere the same thing applies to

your customers pick a customer group and

focus all your energy on serving them if

you sell to everybody you sell to nobody

if everybody is your customer

nobody is your customer

number three

avoid what is strong

and attack what is weak

you can be sure of succeeding in your

attacks if you only attack places which

are undefended and weak

let's say you start your first job and

see that everybody in the company is

great at Excel so you work hard and try

to compete with those guys

can you imagine how hard it's going to

be to compete with those sharks who have

10 plus years of expertise in Excel you

attacked something that is very strong

and hard to defeat you are very likely

to lose or become a mediocre employee

now instead imagine you look around and

see that there is no expert in the

company for PowerPoint presentations so

you decide to focus on that guess what

will happen next

after a short time you'll be considered

the go-to person for PowerPoint

presentations not just that it will also

be very hard to fire you because there

are simply not enough people with that

skill in the company

let me give you one more example the

things you are good at and enjoy doing

are the things you should be attacking

focusing more on the other hand the

things you suck at and don't enjoy doing

are the things to be avoided because

focusing on them is like attacking the

enemy where he is the strongest

for example if I'm good at creating the

videos you are watching right now and it

gives me huge pleasure benefits people

like you who also helps me to earn a

decent amount of money then why should I

spend my time improving my

Administration skills I don't care if

I'm bad at Administration I know that as

long as I focus on what I like and get

good at it that I can always hire

someone who can do Administration work

for me cheaply and more efficiently if I

make a hundred dollars an hour doing

what I love and can hire a professional

project manager for ten dollars an hour

then why on Earth should I focus on

improving my management skills it just

doesn't make sense financially plus

focusing on what I don't like will

reduce my confidence make me feel

miserable and unhappy so lesson number

three is avoid what is strong attack

what is weak avoid your weaknesses and

focus on your strengths number four

raising a hundred thousand men and

marching them great distances

entails heavy loss on the people

and a drain on the resources of the

state

the daily expenditure will amount to a

thousand ounces of silver

there will be civil unrest at home and

abroad

men will drop down exhausted on the

highways

as many as 700

000 families will be impeded in their

labor

war is very expensive it costs lives

even when there is no fighting it costs

the patience and support of people at

home that cost is paid for a long time

even after the war has ended and even if

you were victorious that is why you

should understand the cost before you go

to war the same thing applies to

starting your business the idea of

having your business sounds great but

are you willing to pay the costs are you

willing to work for a year without

profit are you willing to have arguments

with your partner because you are

working a lot are you willing to be

under pressure and stress are you

willing to work on weekends and not go

off with your friends

these are just a few of the costs you

have to pay and it isn't just you it's

also your family and friends who pay it

many people don't see the cost and they

think that having their own business

means being in a black suit sitting in a

fancy office in a tall building holding

a phone in one hand and a coffee in the

other hand and ordering people to do

this and that but that is not the

reality the reality is that your office

will be your bedroom or coffee shop if

you're lucky and you will not be

ordering people you will be the one

doing it a few days ago I saw a post on

Facebook from an entrepreneur that I

think perfectly explains what it means

to have your own business he wrote

you know when I was working in a company

for somebody else I didn't like when I

had to work on Saturdays that is why I

worked very hard and finally created my

own business now that I have my own

business I also work on Sundays

number five we cannot enter into an

alliance with neighboring princes until

we are acquainted with their designs we

are not fit to lead an Army on the March

unless we are familiar with the face of

the country its mountains forests and

swamps

alliances both in business and in

Warfare are essential however a problem

is that those who would be your friend

often have an agenda of their own which

does not necessarily agree with yours

your allies may also have deceitful

tricks that is why it is important to

spend the time to research your allies

and understand their real interests

number six if you know the enemy and

know yourself

you need not fear the results of a

hundred battles

if you know yourself but not the enemy

for every Victory gained you will also

suffer a defeat

if you know neither the enemy nor

yourself

you will lose in every battle

if you go to a job interview there are

two questions that are very likely to be

asked the first one is why should we

hire you and the second do you know

anything about our company

the way most people answer is like this

ah the reason you should hire me is

because I am a team player reliable and

I work hard

and I checked your website and it seems

like your company is selling books

guess what happens after such an answer

the interviewer says she will contact

you soon but you never hear from her

again you don't even get an email

explaining the reason they rejected you

now imagine this scenario imagine before

you go to an interview you do a deep

research to understand what the company

is doing and what are the problems they

are facing these days you don't stop

there you also find someone who works in

that company and you arrange a meeting

to learn more you also find some people

who work in that position that you are

applying for and talk to them

simply put you learn everything you can

about the company their problems future

plans new initiatives

Etc

then you take a look at the results of

your research and discover that the

company is facing five main problems and

you can actually help with two of those

so you take a piece of paper and

describe those two problems in detail

and explain how you would solve them if

they hired you

for example you say your company had the

biggest market share in the number of

books sold but since 2018 You've Lost

Your dominance and your Revenue has been

decreasing every quarter since then if

you hire me as a marketing manager here

are three things I will do to increase

sales number one I will do XYZ because

I've done it in my previous job and got

great results number two I will do this

and that

Etc

in this way you describe the problems

and explain how you would solve them if

you do this well here are two things

that will happen number one the person

interviewing you will be amazed and you

will get hired immediately number two

you will be offered the highest salary

they can offer and if you want you can

even push higher and they will be

willing to accept it because no other

candidate seem to understand their

problem as much as you did and provided

a solution

now this is not some Theory I've done it

personally and I've also seen others

doing it and getting amazing results it

works and it works because you took the

time to know your enemy and yourself so

lesson number six is Know The Enemy and

know yourself and you need not fear the

result of a hundred battles

number seven

when some are seen advancing and some

retreating

it is a lure

if those who are sent to draw water

Begin by drinking themselves

the Army is suffering from thirst

when the soldiers stand leaning on their

Spears they are faint from want to food

if the enemy sees an advantage to be

gained and makes no effort to secure it

the soldiers are exhausted

if Birds gather on any spot it is

unoccupied

if there is disturbance in the camp

the General's Authority is weak

so you're probably asking what all that

means for you because most of them are

quite specific to war and don't apply to

business or daily life yes you are right

but if you pay close attention you will

see that there is one thing that is

common in all of them and that is

they're all signs regardless if it is in

business or in war signs tell a very

important story entrepreneurs who are

skilled enough to read the science can

easily use it to their advantage that is

why you should pay close attention to

signs in your life or in your business

and understand what they are trying to

tell you

for example I recently found out that 75

percent of people who watch my videos

don't subscribe it's a sign telling me

I'm doing a terrible job at converting

viewers into subscribers so signs tell

me that I should ask you to subscribe

more often so here I am asking you to

subscribe

so what are the signs in your life

telling you for example if you always

feel tired and sleepy during the day

it's a sign that you should fix your

sleep if you're on a diet but still

struggle to lose your extra weight it's

a sign that you should change something

in your diet

number eight

we can't rely on the likelihood of the

enemy not coming

put on our own Readiness to receive him

not on the chance of his not attacking

but rather on the fact that we have made

our position

unassailable

look right now everything might be going

well for you you might have a reliable

job a great salary company car and no

health problems I hope everything stays

that way for you but let's be realistic

things go wrong you might get fired you

might have financial difficulties and

the worst of all you might have health

problems this is reality we can't ignore

it and naively believe that they will

not come one day that is why we all need

to be prepared we can't rely on the

likelihood that difficulties aren't

coming they will eventually come and

what matters is if you are prepared or

not here are a few basic ways to prepare

for them

number one have an emergency fund where

you keep the equivalent of three to six

months of your monthly expenses number

two make sure you have good insurance

for yourself and your family number

three become an expert at your job

during tough times amateurs get fired

first and demand for experts goes up

number four if you don't see yourself as

an expert at your current job then start

a side business or take new courses to

prepare yourself for a new job

number five have some cash ready for

great investment opportunities that

might come your way

number nine

there are roads which must not be

followed

armies which must not be attacked

towns which must not be besieged

positions which must not be contested

commands of the state which must not be

obeyed

this lesson is all about knowing the

things that you shouldn't be doing

there's a saying that goes like this

knowing what not to do is more important

than knowing what to do most of us have

to-do lists but have you ever created a

not to-do list if you haven't just give

it a try and you'll be amazed by the

results

for example you shouldn't be doing the

things you're bad at you shouldn't be

hanging out with people who drain your

energy you shouldn't be spending the

first two to three hours of your day on

low value tasks

not to-do lists also applies to

customers there are certain customers

that you shouldn't be serving there's a

famous saying the customer is always

right which I personally don't agree

with the customer is not always right

right customers are always right

there's a big difference

if you serve the wrong customer they

will waste your time and drain your

energy you should throw away such

customers just like you're throwing away

your garbage toxic customers are really

like garbage and probably someone else

threw them away and if you continue to

serve them you'll be basically feeding

on someone else's garbage let someone

else deal with them and you focus on

customers that really matter for your

business

if you do that and not serve the wrong

customers you'll now have extra time

which you can spend on the customers

that really matter and this will make

them even happier and they will refer

your business to even more

similar-minded customers

now I understand that in some businesses

it would be difficult to choose your

customers but many small business owners

and Freelancers can do that easily by

positioning themselves in a certain way

or by simply rejecting certain types of

customers with a certain budget or

attitude

I also know that many people will have a

hard time with the idea of rejecting

customers for example last year I

couldn't convince my friend and his

business partner that they shouldn't be

accepting every customer and instead

position themselves for a very specific

group of customers

they kept saying a customer is a

customer and we shouldn't be rejecting

them

if you say a customer is a customer then

you operate just like the grocery store

in the corner of your street that is

selling potatoes and cucumbers you

become a commodity business commodity

businesses lose clients as soon as there

is a new competitor with better prices

for example you probably don't care

where you buy potatoes right a potato is

a potato and you're better off if you

buy it from a grocery store that sells

it cheaper

number 10.

there are not more than five musical

notes

yet the combination of these five give

rise to more melodies

than can ever be heard

there are not more than five primary

colors

yet in combination

they produce more colors than can ever

be seen

and in battle

there are not more than two methods of

attack

the direct

and the indirect

yet these two in combination

give rise to an endless series of

maneuvers

oftentimes in personal life or At Work

We complain that there are not enough

resources We complain about not having

enough time money employees Etc it's

easy to complain but what is hard is to

use your limited resources creatively

and come up with new Solutions

this lesson personally made me realize

how often I choose to complain about the

lack of resources rather than focusing

on doing something creatively with what

I already have

our brain's potential is endless it just

requires you to ask the right questions

instead of saying I don't have resources

you need to ask how can I achieve what I

want to using the things that I already

have

this is a simple question but it opens

up the brain and lets it work on the

possibilities

number 11.

the control of a large force is the same

Principle as the control of a few men

it is merely a question of dividing up

their numbers

have you ever noticed that sometimes a

task or project looked so big and scary

that you don't even dare to start

working on it

however once you sit down and break it

down into pieces you realize that it

actually isn't scary in fact it's pretty

simple

when it comes to managing my tasks

effectively one technique has been

tremendously helpful and that was naming

my days and batching my tasks

for example my Mondays are for

administrative tasks this is the day I

respond to emails and deal with tasks

related to management of the company

Tuesdays Wednesdays and Thursdays are

for Creative work these are the days I

research and write scripts like this one

Finally Friday is the meeting day when I

hold most of my meetings

some weeks it's difficult to manage

things like I described especially if

not everybody is willing or available to

meet on Fridays but I do my best to

stick to this formula ninety percent of

the time

this technique is great for four reasons

number one you're not overwhelmed and

worried about all 20 other tasks you

only focus on what is in front of you

for today number two it increases

productivity and focus every time you

switch a task you lose momentum this

technique avoids it

number three

you have better Clarity and worry less

sometimes you see an email and want to

jump in and get it done but when you

know that today isn't the day to respond

to emails then it's easy to bring

yourself back on track and ignore that

task number four if you have many tasks

then we usually tend to avoid the

painful ones and focus on easy ones but

when you know that this is the day you

have to deal with that painful task then

you have no option but to get it done

number 12.

throw your soldiers into positions where

there is no Escape

and they will prefer death to flight

if they will face death there is nothing

they may not achieve

this simply means if you're trying to

conquer the island the best way to do it

is to burn your ships in other words

have no backup plan and go all in on the

other hand I believe that it's a

powerful tactic because it turns I

should do it into

I must do it

many of us just keep saying I should do

this I should do that but actually never

do it there's tremendous power when we

know that there is no turning back and

it's a must in many aspects of life this

can be a very powerful tactic but in my

opinion when it comes to starting a

business it's not the way to go

for example it doesn't make sense to

quit your job next month and start your

business especially if you have no

experience with running a business

I personally didn't burn my ships right

away I started the business on the side

and eventually went all in and burned

the ships but it wasn't until I knew

that there was at least 60 to 70 percent

chance of success

number 13.

good Fighters put themselves beyond the

possibility of defeat and then wait for

an opportunity to defeat the enemy

to secure ourselves against defeat lies

in our own hands

but the opportunity of defeating the

enemy is provided by the enemy himself

whatever the situation you are facing

you know yourself better than anyone

else you know your weaknesses and

strengths that is why it's in your hands

to put yourself beyond the possibility

of defeat however you don't know your

enemy

once you are sure of your defense you

need to do a lot of observation to find

a weakness in your enemy's defense but

again first you need to be sure that you

have a good defense otherwise regardless

of how big the opportunity is you can't

benefit from it

for example there is a saying that more

millionaires are made in a market crash

than in a market boom Market crashes

bring a lot of opportunities because a

lot of great businesses are sold on a

discount however if your defense sucks

meaning if you are deep in debt have no

emergency fund have no reliable source

of income have high expenses and no

savings then it doesn't matter how big

the opportunity is you will not be able

to benefit you will probably be the

victim of the market crash because you

didn't build your defense and put

yourself beyond the possibility of

defeat

number 14 he will win who knows how to

handle both the superior and inferior

forces

different groups of people use different

words and speak differently for example

investors speak differently than

entrepreneurs entrepreneurs speak

differently than employees and married

people speak differently than single

people

sometimes language is so different that

a person listening might feel like he is

listening to a foreign language

investors use words such as Roi return

on investment asset liability capital

gains appreciation Etc on the other hand

employees use words such as good Pension

Plan High salary flexible working hours

meal vouchers

Etc depending on which of these groups

you are talking to you should be able to

adjust your language if you want to

communicate effectively

I used to have a manager who I admired

for his great presentation skills for

example when he was talking to us to his

team he would have 15 to 20 slides in

his PowerPoint presentation but when he

was presenting the exact same topic to

hire management he would usually have

one slide with 10 to 15 texts on it

because management only cared about a

few key information and he could give it

to them in one slide

he was well respected and loved in the

company because he knew how to talk to

his superiors and inferiors number 15.

the general who wins a battle makes many

calculations in his temper before the

battle is fought

the general who loses a battle makes a

few calculations beforehand

thus doing many calculations lead to

Victory

and few calculations to defeat

It Is by attention to this point I can

foresee who is likely to win or lose

it's ironic how we all understand the

importance of plans but still ignore it

in our day-to-day life there is no

single football or basketball team that

starts the game without a complete and

well-defined plan but when it comes to

life only a few people take the time to

develop a game plan

here is the most important rule of

planning for life don't start your day

without a complete and well-defined plan

don't start your activities until you

know exactly what you plan to accomplish

on that day in other words don't start

your day until you have it finished on

paper

I know it takes time to plan but do this

every day and you will be amazed how

much you accomplish if you do it you

will not say

ugh I have no idea how this day ended so

fast

you'll look back and feel great about

what you have accomplished

once you master planning your days then

the next rule is don't start your week

month and year until you have it planned

plans are great but they are not written

on Stone and you should adjust them

according to circumstances

number 16.

to win 100 Battles is not the height of

skill

breaking the enemy's resistance without

fighting is

the skillful leader subdues the enemy's

troops without any fighting

he captures their cities without laying

Siege to them

he overthrows their Kingdom

without lengthy operations in the field

in terms of business battling means

competing too often businesses compete

over market share and start price wars

only to find out that they have

destroyed the market by reducing the

profits so in business how do you win

without competing how do you win without

fighting

well it's absolutely possible but not

easy there's a great book called Blue

Ocean strategy which explains how to do

that I can't tell you the strategy in

this video because it isn't that short

but to put it simply the author of the

book explains that there are two oceans

ocean means Market the red Ocean and the

blue ocean the red ocean is red because

competition is too Fierce and the blood

of the competitors has turned the water

red on the other hand if you swim past

the red ocean there is another ocean

that is blue and free of competition

your goal is to be in that blue ocean

and the book explains it well how to do

that I'll be summarizing that book very

soon on this channel if you're an

entrepreneur and have a business in a

very competitive market then this is a

must read book

number 17.

carefully compare the opposing army with

your own

so that you may know where strength is

super abundant and where it is deficient

in my marketing class at the University

I learned a technique called SWOT

analysis invented by a guy named Philip

kotler

even though at the time I didn't take it

much seriously later in life turned out

to be a practical tool in case you don't

know SWAT stands for strength weakness

opportunity and threat it's a simple

tool to analyze a business to find out

what are its strong and weak points

where are the opportunities and threats

this is a great tool you can use to

analyze your business your competitors

or simply you can use it to analyze

yourself as an individual

this can be especially useful if you are

at a career Cross Point and don't know

which direction to go analyze yourself

as if you are analyzing a company or

another person and write down what are

your strengths the things you're good at

what are your weaknesses the things

you're bad at and finally what are the

opportunities and threats that you see

in your life the things you put in the

weakness and threat column are the ones

to be avoided your future career

shouldn't be based on your weaknesses

and threats what is the most interesting

for you are the things you put in the

strength and opportunities column these

two columns will be the main indicators

telling you what to focus on

also if you're planning to go to a job

interview there is a high chance that

you will be asked what your strengths

and weaknesses are quite a basic

question and gets asked a lot but many

people can't provide a clear answer

number 18.

an army May March great distances

without distress

if it marches through a country where

the enemy is not

this one sounds pretty clear right if

there's no enemy then it's easy to March

but let's see how many times have you

tried to study or get some serious work

done while you kept your phone next to

you and checked social media every five

minutes

that phone is your enemy and you just

put it on the road that you are going to

march on how many times have you gone on

a diet but still bought cookies and

chocolate and put it in your fridge

don't you realize that you're putting

enemies in your fridge that are looking

for weak moments to attack

so for me this lesson means creating a

system where you eliminate the enemies

so that you can March without danger if

you're trying to read more the Netflix

is your enemy if you're trying to

improve your grades then friends who

care more about drinking than studying

are your enemies

a few weeks ago I summarized a book

called Atomic habits and talked about

the importance of setting up systems and

explained why goals are useless if you

don't have the system in place number

19.

now A Soldier's spirit is keenest in the

morning

by noon day it has begun to flag

and in the evening his mind is bent only

on returning to camp

a clever General therefore

avoids an army when its spirit is key

but attacks when it is sluggish

this is the art of studying moods

so this simply means if you're going to

do something important better do it in

the morning because by the evening

you'll run out of energy and willpower

your willpower is like a muscle just

like your muscles get tired after every

push-up you do your willpower also gets

tired in the morning your will power

battery is full but as the day advances

every single activity you do depletes it

here is the most important thing about

willpower that many people aren't aware

of

you only have one source that you use

for everything it isn't like you have a

different source of willpower for

exercise a different one for shopping

and another one for work you have only

one source and everything you do

depletes it people who don't realize

this wake up and first thing they do is

to check their phone

then they stand in front of the fridge

analyzing if they should eat an omelette

for breakfast or some cereal then they

start responding to some minor emails or

they start cleaning their room or do

some low value tasks finally after every

meaningless job is done they sit down to

do something meaningful in the evening

but here's the thing it's already late

because you didn't attack the most

important tasks when your spirit was

high and had the energy

number 20.

if soldiers are punished before they

have grown attached to you

they will not prove submissive

and if they are not submissive

then they will be practically useless

if soldiers have become attached to you

but punishments are not enforced

they will still be useless

therefore

soldiers must be treated in the first

instance with Humanity

but kept under control by means of iron

discipline

this is a certain road to Victory

there are two commonly used methods for

motivating people either by rewarding

them or by punishing them

many CEOs and managers today use the

punishment method first to get employees

to do something but even the Army

General who lived 2500 years ago thought

that you shouldn't use punishment first

few people are submissive by nature and

they might follow your orders however

starting out with a hard approach risks

creating grudges against you instead if

you first get their respect then they

will accept your punishment happily

number 21.

when the common soldiers are too strong

and their officers too weak

the result is insubordination

when the officers are too strong

and the common soldiers too weak

the result

collapse

you can be a great general or officer

but if your soldiers are weak there's no

way you're going to win that battle

it's the same in business at the end of

the day it is the team that gets the job

done not the manager or the CEO that's

why it's very important to hire the

right people hiring people with the

wrong mindset and not enough skills will

collapse your business

number 22.

it is the business of a general to be

quiet

and ensure secrecy

both in war and in business information

is critical a secret shared is no longer

a secret even if it's just one person

whilst some may be trusted but even The

Trusted person may also be captured and

tortured for their knowledge they may be

blackmailed or bribed the more critical

the knowledge the fewer should know it

is hence often better to keep major

plans to oneself

number 23

record your soldiers as your children

and they will follow you into the

deepest valleys

look upon them as your own beloved Sons

and they will stand by you

even unto death

however

if you are indulgent

but unable to make your Authority felt

kind-hearted but unable to enforce your

commands

then your soldiers must be likened to

spoiled children

they are useless for any practical

purpose

the best way of parenting leading

soldiers or leading a team is both to

love them and at the same time make your

Authority felt and orders obeyed

maintaining balance is quite a hard

thing to do

some leaders are just all about showing

love and taking care but they have a

hard time getting things done on the

other hand some leaders are all about

being tough and giving orders

which is not effective either the key is

to find balance

number 24.

all Warfare is based on Deception

when able to attack we must seem unable

when using our forces

we must seem inactive

when we are near

we must make the enemy believe

we are far away

when far away

we must make him believe we are near

if he is secure at all points

be prepared for him

if he is in Superior strength evade him

if he is taking his ease

give him no rest

if his forces are united

separate them

attack him

where he is unprepared

appear

where you are not expected

this is it for this video

if you remember I mentioned two other

videos to check out one was Atomic

habits and the second one was circadian

code Atomic habits which you see on the

left side of your screen will help you

to build better habits and create

systems circadian code which is on the

right side of your screen will help you

to lose weight improve your sleep and

increase your energy so that you don't

feel tired and sleepy all day long

thanks for watching and I hope this was

a useful video