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Strategic thinking can have a significant impact on your success. It’s the fundamental skill that will lift you up and make recruiters and clients notice you. Whether you want that promotion, or to really light a fire under your business, developing your strategic thinking will set you up to surpass your goals.
If you want to start thinking more strategically about your goals, there are four keys you should consider.
1. Find the Strategic Balance
Strategic balance means thinking about where you focus your time and your resources. Most people could spend all day fielding emails and still not get anything substantial done. It’s up to you how you allocate your attention and your energy.
You’ve probably gotten used to being available 24/7 and having an eternally bubbling-over checklist of tasks. In our modern world, time to think might seem like a luxury, maybe even self-indulgence. But your goals are important to you, right? And they deserve allocated time to really focus on what you want, how you’re doing, and what could change.
2. Set Aside Strategic Thinking Time
Strategic thinking needs to be given separate, priority time. Block out your 10% of time (four hours, if you work a forty-hour week) and give yourself permission to think, ponder, and open up your mind to some blue-sky thinking.
Strategic thinking needs uninterrupted quiet, not snatched minutes sandwiched between other tasks. Shut your office door or take yourself off to a café or park so you can really think deeply.
"Strategic thinking can have a significant impact on your success. It’s the fundamental skill that will lift you up and make recruiters and clients notice you." - Vince Morales
3. Quarantine Your Strategic Thinking Time
Guard your strategic thinking time as a treasure. There will always be demands on your time, but you should commit to allocating 10% for strategic thinking. No emails, no meetings, no phone calls. Learn to say no to the ‘just this once’ demands and give this time the respect it deserves.
4. Make the Time
Making the time to think strategically about your goals is one of the most important things for your personal and professional purposes and goals. By taking the time to reflect on your goals, you can develop a clear plan to achieve them, and it makes it more likely that you will be successful, but it also allows you to focus your time and energy on the most critical tasks. Additionally, you can identify any potential roadblocks and develop a contingency plan by thinking strategically about your goals. Ultimately, taking the time to think strategically about your goals is essential to ensuring your success.