The Art of the Focus: Maneuvering Through the Efficient Economy Through Non-Techie Means

(updated at 05/09/15 3:33 hrs)

Have you always been depended  on your technology as the principal mean to solve problem and to maneuver through your complex settings?  Are you addicted to the "one button push" solution?

Are you able to walk around your terrain without looking at your mobile device?

Do you think that you can operate without your tablet or your mobile phone attached to your face?

The Tangible Perspective
In the information economy, almost everyone is depended on some level of technology. Being overly depended on it can be mind numbing for some members of the masses are so depended on it that they cannot breathe without it.

We noticed that it is quite difficult for then to  maneuver through their own settings with their gut instinct and a basic strategy 

Most of us liked our techie toys to solve our immediate problem while concealing our own intellectual deficits of not being able to project the next change.  

While many of these one button solutions have creating the illusion that all problems of life can be solved with a few "pushed" buttons, it does not propel the implementer to think critically and strategically. 

Building a balanced life with technology as the alternative means is quite difficult.

As "classical" strategists, some of us still write our notes on white index cards or using chronograph to view the current time. 

We purposefully maintained this proclivity for the purpose of maintaining the skill of being methodical by style and the tactile skill of "mind to eye to hand" coordination.   This practice also builds the mindset of conscious-driven patience and control. 

For personal control reasons, one of our associates still preferred to operate on a linux desktop from a command line. Using a graphical desktop interface has a way of transforming the attentive mind of the user into mush. 

Suggestion
While technology is the opium of the masses and the embracing of the rapid, mindless changes is the amateur way of evolving in our society, some of us still believed in maintaining the perspective of being methodical by style. 

This grand approach allows us to stay focused on our objective while mindfully de-accelerate slowing down the change factor around us. 

Some of us still believe in the following classic practices:

• Going to the libraries for research purposes;
• Connecting the dots by reading the paper version of the Wall Street Journal or Financial Times;
• Searching for interesting news items on Saturday (Thanks goodness for Google News); 
• Recording unique ideas and information on paper or with a white board;
• Reviewing those mentioned points strategically before the digitalization of information is ever considered;
• Utilizing engineering graphic paper for design projects;
• Saving private documents in portable digital storage mediums;
• Using the command line of a linux desktop to surf the web;  
• Compiling C/C++ or running perl code from the command line for efficiency reasons;
• Listening to various compositions from Mozart, Handel, Bach and other classical music geniuses;
• Listening to baseball games with the radio;
• Play weiqi (Go) games or chess games with zero distractions; 
• Standing mindfully when thinking;
• Standing mindfully when having group meeting;
• Walking and talking mindfully in private "one on one" meetings;
• Planning mindfully with the purpose of zero useless moves; 
• Operating strategically with the mindfulness of pure efficiency; and 
• Maneuvering by focusing on the grand concept of the singularity that exists within the the Big Picture of one own settings.

There are more tactile-based practices to this listing.  It is moderately long but quite pragmatic for certain situations.  We will elaborate more on these practices in a future post.

Our experience tells us that these practices will help those who are "strategically driven to stay ahead of the curve." 

Anticipating the next view of the Big Tangible Picture (BTP) with or without the technological toys is the real skill of the 21st century strategists. ...  You do know how to do that. Do you ?

Someone once explained to us that the most efficient way to maneuver through the efficient economy through non-techie means is to stay "centered" first.  This exercise allows one to be more methodical by style.

Staying centered means staying focused while standing calmly. Avoiding distractions can be a challenge.

By staying "centered" on the objective of understanding the configuration of the Big Tangible Picture, one sees the Big Tangible Picture of their strategic setting.   

The Compass Solution 
“These are the ways that successful strategists are victorious. They cannot be spoken or transmitted in advance. ... It is by scoring many points that one wins the contest beforehand in the conference room (while performing scenario planning and modeling);  it is by scoring few points that one loses  the wins the contest beforehand in the conference room (while performing scenario planning and modeling). The side that scores many points will win; the side that scores few points will not win, let alone the side that scores no point at all.  When I examine it in this way, the outcome of the contest becomes apparent." 

- Art of War 1 (Paraphrased from the Ames translation)

Q: What set of factors do you use to assess your current setting and to anticipate the next state of the Big Tangible Picture?

Staying focused on the target while being mindful of the Big Tangible Picture 

Side Note: Strategic Decision Management

Reaching to this stage of simplified decision management is never that easy. Collecting the tangible data and assessing it is the next challenge after one is able to stay centered.

The Anticipated Trend
The quantity of mobile searches is currently greater than the quantity of desktop  searches.

Conclusively, we are now living in a mobile economy that encompasses the essence of complexity where the "price demand" factor has now become quite relevant.  

Those who control the certain niches that exist within the consumer marketplace, will function on the general social-economic guidelines of "supply and demand" and "first come first served." 

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