Let’s agree that strategy is important. Really important.
I just Googled the word “Strategy” and came up with 166,000,000 results. Seriously. It’s an even 166 million. I poked through the results and found:
- Definitions of strategy
- Articles about how important it is to HAVE a strategy
- Books about strategy
- Lots of advice about strategic planning
What I don’t see is anything about HOW to think strategically, how to come up with a strategic idea.
Strategy is your compass point, the big picture that sets your direction. It’s not the step by step details of precisely how you will get things accomplished.
If strategy is important, learning to think more strategically is a good thing. And the good news is that learning does not require trying harder, or working harder.
It’s about letting go. It’s about trusting yourself.
William Duggan’s book Strategic Intuition explains how to cultivate those moments of brilliance, those creative strategic ideas. His research shows:
- Good ideas are the combination of information you already have stored in your brain from your own expertise, your own past experiences and your knowledge in other areas.
- Intuition is the automatic combination of what is stored and retrieved in your brain. It’s like connecting the dots to form a picture.
- Good ideas come to you as flashes of insight, often when you don’t expect them. They happen In the shower, in traffic, falling asleep, in your dreams. For a moment you are not really thinking at all.
Don’t get stuck thinking that you are not a “creative type.” Scientists no longer believe that one side of the brain is creative and the other side is rational. Our brains fire on both sides at the same time.
That gives women a huge advantage in the area of strategy, because the right and left sides of their brain communicate better with each other than men’s brains.
Women’s intuition is just what’s needed for great strategy!
You can nurture the ability to think strategically and be open to intuition.
- No more multitasking: It literally ruins your brain. The less you hold in mind at once the better. Memory starts to degrade when you try to hold more than one idea in mind.
- Limit time on email, text & social media: Ouch! It’s true. Constant emailing, texting and jumping back and forth on social media sites reduces mental capability by an average of 10 points on an IQ test!
- Don’t overload your brain: Every time the brain works on an idea, it uses up measurable & limited resources.
- Prioritize before any other attention demanding activities: The most important mental processes, like prioritizing & decision-making, take the most effort.
When you need strategic ideas — a big picture, a compass point andndash; let your brain rest. Give yourself time to flow through these four steps:
- Reflect on memories of previous experience: What do you know, what’s worked in the past, what impresses you from other industries, other models?
- Clear your mind: Let go of all expectations and previous ideas of what you might do, or even what your goal is. Develop the state of “beginners mind.”
- Be open to a flash of insight: In a free mind, selected elements from past examples come together in a new combination.
- Be resolved: You’ll need determination and force of action to propel you forward, even in the face of criticism, to do what you need to do.
Just imagine the strategic ideas you can create when you trust your women’s intuition and give yourself space to have an open mind. I hope you’ll share with me your most creative, strategic thoughts at darcie@ewfinterhational.com.
andcopy; 2012 Darcie Harris