Gone Fishing While Thinking A Few Moves Ahead

In an uncertain economy, the perceptive and experienced fisherman (strategist) always knows the risk factors for that body of water that he is preparing to fish at.

While there is near zero risk in a pond, the risk amplifies as the body of water increases.  Where in the ocean, the variability of risk can change at a whim.  

The weather occasionally plays a significant role in altering the movement of the ocean.

Beside the obvious preys that live in this body of water, there are predators too.


The Compass Principle of Recognizing the Terrain
The size of the terrain is usually proportional to the quantity of risk-rewards and risk-drawbacks.

The Dao of Strategic Positioning
To position ahead of the competition (or the situational curve), the perceptive strategist usually anticipate the risk factors for that situation by recognizing the risk benefits, the risk challenges and the risk drawbacks for each of the projected approaches is the initial step.

Completing the risk challenges properly and promptly, does not always mean that one would be many moves ahead of the curve. One has to comprehend the strategic configuration of the situation in terms of the matrix of connectivity and the seasonal cycle, before ever knowing how many moves ahead that he or she will be positioned at.

Whenever our latest project is completed, we will only then discuss more on this unique strategic topic.  

Can Hard Work Beats Intelligence?

Source: Quora

"I don't have superior intelligence or faultless looks. I don't captivate a room or run a mile under six minutes. I succeed because I was still working after everyone went to sleep." -- Greg Evans

"Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again. -- Steve Jobs

"Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race" -- Calvin Coolidge, the thirtieth president of the US

"You asked me if an ordinary person by studying hard, would get to be able to imagine these things, like I imagine them. Of course! I was an ordinary person, who had studied hard. There is no miracle people. It just happens they got interested in this thing, and they learned all this stuff. They are just people. There is no talent, a special miracle ability to understand quantum mechanics or a miracle ability to imagine electromagnetic field that comes without practice and reading and learning and study. So, if you say you take an ordinary person who is willing to devote a great deal of time and study and work and thinking in mathematics, then he has become a scientist." -- Richard Feynman, one of the greatest physicists of all time

“Right. I don’t believe in the idea that there are a few peculiar people capable of understanding math, and the rest of the world is normal. Math is a human discovery, and it’s no more complicated than humans can understand. I had a calculus book once that said, ‘What one fool can do, another can.’ What we’ve been able to work out about nature may look abstract and threatening to someone who hasn’t studied it, but it was fools who did it, and in the next generation, all the fools will understand it. There’s a tendency to pomposity in all this, to make it deep and profound.” -- Richard Feynman

These quotes are by some of the most well-known, "talented", and"intelligent" people

So, yes! Hard work beats talent. Hard work beats intelligence. 

Assessing Strategically: Beating the Odds (Leicester City Secures the Upset)

Source: Economist.com
(updated at 18:18 hrs)

For this week, victory wears a blue shirt.

A Perspective From The Sunzi's Victory Temple 

'It is by scoring many points (factors)  that  one conclude the right choice before the actual decision in a rehearsal in their own mind;  it is by scoring few  points  that  one  conclude the incorrect choice before the actual event  in a rehearsal  in their own mind.  The choice which scores many  points  will be the better decision;  the  choice which  scores few points will not  be the decision,  let  alone the  choice which scores no  points  at  all.  When I make observations on the  basis of this, the outcome of the decision becomes apparent."   

- Art of War (Paraphrased from Roger Ames's Sunzi's The Art of Warfare)

Beating the Odds 

Recently, the Leicester City Foxes won the English Premier League (EPL) Championship. 

The Economist.com writer declared that three factors that enabled the Foxes to win were: their tactical guile; the squad's stability and the poor performance by the other competitors.

Using those factors, is it possible to predict a sporting team's seasonal success? ...  (If you believe that, we have a bridge to sell you.)

The Abstract Behind the Factors

The tactical guile factor works when the team has superior advantage of tactical match-ups. 

The quality of players establishes the tactics. The quality of tactics concludes the category of plays that would be used.

Good recruitment of very good players who are willing to listen to the coach, minimum injuries and having quality bench players determine the quality of   the team stability factor. 

The reasons behind the poor performance of the other competitors are irrelevant for the moment. (Side note: If one focuses on exceeding the performance standard of their strategic situation, the score takes care of itself.)

Understanding the tectonic level behind the factors does offer a technical advantage for the perceptive strategist who is also ambitious. 

Knowing the Odds

A few bettors took the 5000 to 1 odds and won. 

Was it luck? Based on the bettors response, there were zero calculations on their part. This sort of wagering reminds us of those who play the lottery.

In the randomness of life, chance and the lack of information rarely ever favors the "naive" amateur speculator. 

Click here on ESPN's story on the five turning points for Leicester and click here on the graph for Leicester City's incredible odds

Side Event 

Tottenham's draw against Chelsea also helped Leicester City's in securing the championship.  

The Compass Desk

Does wagering on long odds by assessing on a few strategic factors occasionally guarantee a near-automatic financial win?  We doubted that. In the strategy game, we preferred a minimum of five strategic factors.

The perceptively smart strategist always "read" the strategic configuration of the grand situation before concluding any decisions.

The Li Quan Perspective on "The Victory Temple’s"
"Those who excel in warfare contend for advantage with others only after determining through temple calculations that they will be successful.

Attacking the rebellious and embracing the distant, toppling the lost and solidifying the extant and uniting the weak and attacking the benighted are all manifestations.

 The interior and exterior becoming estranged, as in the case of the Shang and Chou armies, is what is referred to as having determined victory through temple calculations before engaging in combat.

According to T'ai-yi Tun-chia assessment method, *anything above sixty a majority, anything below sixty is  a minority.  ... In all these cases, victory and defeat are easily seen.* " 

- Li Quan's  T'ai-pai Yin-ching (Dr Ralph Sawyer's translation)

Side note 

Click here on Sam Allardyce, the manager of West Ham football club, perspective on footballing success.

Observation

The smart and risk-averse speculators usually pursue "stable" Standard and Poor 500 funds for profit instead of wagering on sporting events.

Assessing the Lottery by Estimating One's Chance of Winning (updated)

(updated at 03.27.16)

Heaven knows that there are some people who enjoyed the experience of risk-taking while "quietly" loathing the concept of gambling with bad odds.  It does not matter what the odds are because they believed that they have a chance to win.

Playing the Lottery
Click here on why playing any type of lottery (Powerball, etc.)  is not a good wager.  The odds of winning a substantial prize are so low.

(updated at 03.26.2016)

Everyone is always looking for some type of advantage. So, what should the budding gambler do?   ... Knowing the abstract theory on Lotto always helps.

Click here on calculating one's chance of winning the lottery. Click here on one's amateur view of winning the lottery.

Click here on a 2016 Wired.com article on why it is quite difficult to win the Power Ball lottery.



Compass Principle (1): Identifying the Odd Number 
Edge Over Odds. The Odd Number Wins

Determining the right quantity of odd numbers on a lotto card is one theory.   It begins by identifying the configuration of the situation and always focusing on some level of balance. 

In the game of 21 blackjack, the right odd number usually wins.


Compass Principle (2): Knowing When to Estimate and When to Assess
Assessing strategically allows one to be a pragmatic opportunist.

It begins by knowing the dao of the factors and recognizing the tectonic level behind the "factors" model.

Compass Principle (3): Playing the Scenario Modeling Game
 “98 percent of my time thinking about 2 percent probabilities."   ... It becomes the alpha priority especially in the area of managing risk in different situations. 

The successful strategists are always perform scenario modeling and forecasting before implementing a strategic decision. 

Side Note

Click here on the outcome of a poor decision after playing the lottery.

Staying Ahead of the Curve: Be Prepared (The New England Patriots Way)

(updated at 02.01.16)

Successful strategists have always performed "scenario planning before testing the scope of an untested concept" and is always prepared for the best case scenarios and the worst case scenarios.

The Patriots Way

Regardless of the last week's Patriots defeat against the Broncos,  The Patriots were prepared for of a technological breakdown.

" ... In fact, the Patriots sometimes stick with the old-school method of taking photographs and printing them out. Belichick told reporters that they use the photos as a "backup," calling them "more dependable" than the tablets. "

Comments From Belichick

"It is what it is," Belichick said, via MassLive. "It's a pretty common problem. We have ways of working through it. There's really nothing you can do. It's not like the headsets where the other sides are really affected. You deal with what you deal with.

"We have had it at home, we have had it on the road, other teams have had it, it's a fairly common problem that didn't affect the outcome of the game --- in no way. That's just part of it. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't."

But Microsoft defended their product. According to the company, the problem was related to the network -- not the tablets.

"Our team on the field has confirmed the issue was not related to the tablets themselves but rather an issue with the network," Microsoft said in a statement, per MassLive. "We worked with our partners who manage the network to ensure the issue was resolved quickly."

Click here for the rest of the story.

Historical Notes
In 2011, technology slowly expanded into the NFL.  To many, the clipboard and the three-ring binder playbooks might be obsolete.

It is important to know what to do next when the power is off.

The Strategy of Psychology 
Most people remembered visual images on a short term basis while some people retained  data by using an integrated approach of their visual and tactile sense. Others just used their visual and audio senses.

The Compass Principles

• To stay ahead of the curve,  one stays focused on their objective while being prepared for all tactical possibilities.
• One always performs "scenario planning" of a new concept or technology before utilizing it in the field.

Comments From the Compass Desk 
Most ambitious non-strategic people are not able to anticipate ahead because they do not think about the strategic factors, the tactical factors, the specificity of the tactical factors and/or the tactical factors that lead to the strategic factors.  They merely contemplate on the current moment.

Psychology is Strategy: Understanding the Mind of Bill Gross, The Bond King

(updated at 1:11 pm)

Bond king' Bill Gross donates old Bloomberg keyboard, Beanie Babies to Smithsonian
Once the centerpiece of his legendary bond managing days, Bill Gross' old Bloomberg terminal keyboard is getting a new home at the Smithsonian Institution.

The co-founder of Pacific Investment Management Co. also donated several other items from his trading desk -- a Monroe Trader bond calculator, two Beanie Babies (one red bull and one black bear) and a pair of fuzzy dice always set to lucky number 11.

"I'll want to adjust the dice to 11 if they're not to 11," he said. "And make sure the bull and the bear are appropriately placed so that if I'm bearish on the market, the bear is a little more forward than the bull."

The Question of The Day 

So, do you know why Bill Gross possessed a pair of fuzzy dice that was always set to the number 11?

The Conceptual Meaning of The Number "11"
In the game of craps (shooting dices), there are 36 possible end results from throwing two "cube-shaped" dices.  With those 36, there are only two combinations of the number 11 (6 and 5, 5 and 6) that enable the bettor to win on the first throw (the pass line bet).  It also offers the payoff of 16 to 1 odds.   

Mr. Gross realizes that the achievement of the high end rewards are usually risky, due to the uncertain probability of a certain situation occurring. 

While hitting the idealistic "11" on the first attempt is difficult and uncertain, the achievement is possible with the right research and strategic execution.   Regardless of the projected rewards in the competitive bond business, he must identify the high end rewards through long sessions of intensive research before determining whether it is possible to achieve that specific reward. 

The Compass Principle
It is better to be strategically good than it is to be strategically depended on chance.


Side Notes

• In spite of the throwing motion of the dice, one should know how the weight and the shape of the dice could affect the roll. 

• 11 is a prime number, but not a lucky prime number. 

• The "winning lucky numbers" concept rarely prevails in the business of personal investments and "serious" table gaming.   

#  Portions From the Original Article

Bill Gross donated his old Bloomberg terminal keyboard to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. 
By SAMANTHA MASUNAGA

The item is part of the American Enterprise exhibit, opening July 1, which also boasts Eli Whitney's cotton gin.  (National Museum of American History, American Enterprise exhibition)

Bond king' Bill Gross donates old Bloomberg keyboard, Beanie Babies to Smithsonian
Once the centerpiece of his legendary bond managing days, Bill Gross' old Bloomberg terminal keyboard is getting a new home at the Smithsonian Institution.

The co-founder of Pacific Investment Management Co. also donated several other items from his trading desk -- a Monroe Trader bond calculator, two Beanie Babies (one red bull and one black bear) and a pair of fuzzy dice always set to lucky number 11.

"I think it'll be pretty cool," Gross said of his items' inclusion in the exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. "It'll be like visiting your old home where you grew up."

... When considering items for this section, he said the staff decided that they needed a Bloomberg terminal as the "icon of the modern financial world."

"I'll want to adjust the dice to 11 if they're not to 11," he said. "And make sure the bull and the bear are appropriately placed so that if I'm bearish on the market, the bear is a little more forward than the bull."

The keyboard also has a signature Gross touch. At the top is a piece of white sticker tape with his old password on it.   ...

After years of refusing to abandon his 25-year-old keyboard, the "bond king" said he now has a new one in his new role as portfolio manager at Janus Capital Group.

For more business news, follow @smasunaga.

Click here for more information on this news item regarding Bill Gross

Source: www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bill-gross-keyboard-20150602-story.html

Succeeding in the Info. Economy with Sunzi's Six Principles and the Bill Walsh's Starter Script

(updated on 02.20.15)

Mark McNeilly, who is a very smart marketing strategist, an insightful military historian and an adjunct professor at University of North Carolina, wrote a pair of books on applying the strategic concepts and principles from Sunzi's Art of War to the business realm and to modern warfare.

The essence of his two books are based on six meta-principles, that summarized the 200+ principles of Sunzi.

Following is the list of those six principles:

1. Win all without fighting: Achieving the objective without destroying it

2. Avoid  Strength, Attack Weakness: Striking where the enemy is most vulnerable

3. Deception and Foreknowledge: Winning the Information War

4. Speed and Preparation: Moving Swiftly to Overcome Resistance

5. Shaping the Enemy: Preparing the Battlefield

6. Character-Based Leadership: Leading by Example

- SunTzu and The Art of Modern Warfare

#
His first book demonstrates how his six principles were successfully used in various business situations.   ...  It is a good book for those who are strategically-minded. We highly recommended his books on Sunzi (Sun Tzu) and George Washington. These books are great reading especially during a long weekend.

#
Our Compass Project 
In terms of planning a field operational strategy, we concluded that McNeilly's six principles are quite indispensable when or if one possesses relevant strategic experience and ultra-class strategic assessment skills.

During our research, we have carefully looked at it and transformed those six principles to a macro set of meta-principles by connecting it to other principles from other arcane Chinese classics.  Then we connected it to the famous Bill Walsh's Starter's Script and other unique but strategic models.

The Six Strategic Principles of Compass A/E  Process Model 

1.  Ready. Aim. Fire
To achieve the path of least resistance, one focuses their resources and their efforts toward the origin of the competitor's inefficiency while deciding on when to exploit it with zero to minimal impact to one's own team's. This step can be achieved when one knows the configuration of their Big Tangible Picture (BTP).

2. Focus. Focus. Hocus Pocus 
Focusing one's strengths toward onto the weaknesses of the competition with the tactical "pretext" option while avoiding the influence of the competition.

3. Know Early. Act Now
Knowing the strategic reality of the competition in each tactical situation and capitalizing on their inefficiency.

4.  Be Quick. Don't Hurry 
The strategically prepared, urgency-driven team accelerates forward to the target especially in an up-tempo no huddle mode especially when the comprehension of the technical weaknesses behind their opponent's inefficiency is fully recognized. 

5.  Stage and Shape the Competition 
Implement a sequence of tactics that influences the competition to behave in an absolute mode in a specific game situation before the "game-changer" tactic is ever implemented.

6. Lead by Deed 
By successfully following the PACE guidelines of the script and implementing the scripted tactical plays, the team starts to execute properly. The incremental momentum gain becomes possible when the team believes in their own execution, their teammates, the strategy (the motive and the methods) behind the script, the field strategist and the backroom strategists.

When the execution of the script works, the entire team becomes confident in the wisdom, the credibility, the benevolence, the courage and the discipline of the principals behind the script development.

Psychologically, the continuity of this momentum gain creates wins. Conclusively, the continuity of this positive practice generates more streaks of positive wins.

#
Strong and smart leadership and the mastery of this well-devised scheme-based tool usually play a significant role in a winning culture.

copyright 2013-2015: Compass360 Consulting Group, All Rights Reserved.


Some More Notes on the Compass Book Project
Our book integrates the basics of Bill Walsh's Starter Script and the principles from Sunzi, Jiang Tai Gong, and other successful strategists and demonstrates how to utilize it in a chaotic strategic situation while being mindful of when and how the competition adjusts to the implementer's script.

It also utilizes our Assess, Position and Influence model that is a conceptual superset of Colonel John Boyd's Observation, Orientation, Decision and Action (OODA) strategic methodology.

More to Come

#

More Food For Thought: A Pragmatic Idea for December 25

Comments From The Compass Desk
On this holy day, many people will pursue the historical strategic approach of  eating Chinese food .

Click here on the Jewish tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas Day.  

A few of our associates favorite Americanized Chinese food is  the General Tso Chicken.
While it is an slightly over-rated dish, some people consider it as comfort food. Click here for a quick history lesson on this "fun" dish.

#
The late and great Red Auerbach the former coach of the Boston Celtics (a professional basketball team) , always had Chinese food for dinner regardless whether his Boston Celtics team won or lost a game.   ... He always insisted that his team consumed Chinese food for dinner, especially before a game. 

The presumption was that good Chinese food should never create the feeling of "heavy" with the eater.  Whether Coach Auerbach and his team have ever completed a Chinese "nine course" banquet, is a different story.   

"Being light is right" is the basic principle of consumption.  ...   The state of lightness enables one to be agile and mobile.  Conclusively, this state causes one to feel balanced. 

In our case,  some of us have always followed the Compass Principle of being balanced. 

Chinese Food + Netflix = A Good Day

Be  safe. 

Preparation Precedes Performance: SF 49ers Kicker Assesses the New Terrain

49ers Specialists Adjust to 
Levi's® Stadium Confines
For the first time as a full team on Monday afternoon, the San Francisco 49ers practiced inside Levi’s® Stadium.

But some 49ers have sneaked off in small groups to test the new building’s amenities.

Take the specialists as an example.

Kicker Phil Dawson, punter Andy Lee and long snapper Kevin McDermott have ventured into their new home in the morning, at midday and during evenings to test out the gameday confines.

After all, elements such as the field and the wind directly affect their day-jobs.

“Talked to Phil about it, and he’s encouraged,” Jim Harbaugh said of Dawson, who adjusted quickly to Candlestick Park in 2013, making 32 of 36 regular-season field goal attempts. “He feels like it’s going to be a great place to kick.

“It’s part of the process. We’ve got to get used to it. We’ve got to get used to the new stadium, new wind, new grass, everything. We can mark our territory soon as we possibly can. Get used to it as much as we possibly can before we play our first game there.”

Harbaugh pointed out that the team’s practice fields, which face north and south, run parallel to the field inside Levi’s® Stadium. The coach previously compared the natural, Bermuda Bandera grass to that of a fairway at Augusta National Golf Club.

McDermott, who bested veteran Brian Jennings in a training camp battle this time last year, said he won’t be affected nearly as much as his teammates.

“The length of my snap usually isn’t affected unless the wind goes above 30 or 40 miles per hour,” the second-year pro said. “For them, it’s important to know which direction the wind is blowing and in that stadium, it’s blowing all different directions.

“They’re the best in the game, so they’ll be able to handle anything.”

Lee, for another, relies on the weather when deciding how he sends the football off of his right foot. He and the other members of San Francisco’s three-man group of specialists are looking for “keys” like whether the flags atop the stadium’s northeast corner reflect the wind pattern.

“Not really sure about how the ball is going to fly,” Lee, who punted for 10 seasons at The ‘Stick, said, “but the wind is definitely a little swirly. You can walk in five-yard increments, and it could be doing something differently.

“Hopefully, we have enough time to get in there, get things figured out and – hopefully – have a little bit of an edge over our opponents.”

Source:  San Francisco 49ers

#

Everyone prepares for a competitive situation in their own way.  Some mediates. Others talk and wait.  Phil Dawson of the San Francisco Forty Niners strategizes his next game time situation by studying the weather reports and practicing his kicks.

#
Dawson, 38, routinely mines data from Weather.com, AccuWeather.com and WeatherBug.com.

“I’m pretty psycho, I’ve got to admit,” he said. “It’s a borderline problem.”

Dawson’s history in wind, sleet and horizontal-blowing snow became relevant when he signed with the 49ers in March. Dawson’s new home stadium, Candlestick Park, is known for its swirling winds that mess with field-goal attempts, and kickers’ heads.

But Dawson has been there. Endured that. He’s played 204 of his 215 career games outdoors, with 108 coming at the Browns stadium, which is perched on the shores of blustery Lake Erie.

Dawson has played 12 percent of his career games in Cleveland in December. The average forecast for the city in the final month of the year: High of 30.9 degrees with 12-mile-per-hour winds and .38 inches of snow fall (that’s from climate-zone.com, Phil).

... Despite consistently weathering less-than-ideal conditions, Dawson ranks ninth in NFL history in field-goal percentage (84.0) and third in percentage from 50-plus yards (70.6). Seventeen months removed from his 40th birthday, he’s improving with age: He ranked second in the NFL in field-goal percentage (93.5) in 2012 en route to his first Pro Bowl and has drilled 14 of 15 attempts from 50-plus yards since 2011.

The 49ers believe they’ve upgraded after six-time Pro Bowler David Akers, 38, who was cut in March, endured his worst season in 2012. Dawson has missed 14 attempts (93 of 107) since 2009, one more than Akers missed in last year’s final 14 regular-season games.

Given his sustained success, Dawson is optimistic he can handle the inevitable surprises during the 49ers’ final season at The Stick.

PHILD“I think those experiences can only help, but they’re no guarantee,” Dawson said. “So I’ve still got to put the work in. I’ve got to wear out Weather.com like I always do trying to figure out hourly forecasts and wind directions. Has it rained that week? Is the field going to be soft? Is it going to be firm? All that kind of stuff. I’ve got to do my homework.”

Dawson did some advance Stick scouting in the offseason, visiting the stadium several times to get more acquainted after only playing two career games in San Francisco. In 2003, Dawson missed his only attempt, a 48-yarder, at Candlestick. In 2011, he made his only kick, a 52-yarder. Not surprisingly, Dawson recalls that he kicked in ideal conditions during his previous visits to the stadium.

“The weather’s been perfect,” Dawson said. “I’m still holding out hope that I’m bringing that with me. Lord knows I’ve played in rough stuff elsewhere.”

Dawson has also endured rough seasons, from a team perspective. He’s appeared in just one postseason game and the 49ers’ recent success was alluring when he weighed his free-agent options.

Now, the weather wonk who has kicked in all elements is eager to experience playoff conditions for the first time since 2003.

“I’m more looking forward now to kicks that are more team-centered, rather than personal accomplishments,” Dawson said. “It’s been communicated to me that’s why I’m here.”

Click here for the entirety of this news item and click here for another view of this story

Assessing the 
Process of Phil Dawson 
On the field, Mr. Dawson operates without any hi-tech. gadget. His pre-game research has already given him the Big Tangible Picture of what would the weather be at that game day and at any specific time. He knows the viscosity of the grass, the direction and the momentum of the wind at any part of the football field at any specific moment during the game, the shading of the sun and the possibility of extreme weather while methodically follows his sequence of "readiness to implementation" with zero hesitation.  

Mr .Dawson assesses by intuitively focusing on the range, the wind direction, the wind speed (by looking at the flags), the temperature, and humidity. 

The Position stage begins when he maneuvers to the right point of the terrain and begins the process of visualization while synchronizing his breathing with the projected execution. Dawson's then pre-positions his kick to the ready position while being mindful of the wind direction and the location of the yellow-colored goal posts.

The influence begins when he scores the field goal and after the play is over. His team becomes more confident with him. In a climate-challenging game situation, they know that there is a positive chance that he will score the field goal.

Well-executed influence always originates from a well-honed assessment and well-planned positioning.  The usual move of the successful strategist is to execute the influence.

In a game situation, he will have the advantage.

#

To an speculator, the act of kicking the ball looks easy. 

But there is more to the act of scoring the field goal, ultra class professionals like Mr. Dawson usually spent many hours, preparing himself for this type of complex-driven competitive situation. But nothing is ever simple especially in a highly stressed, high reward situation where there are other multi-components that also makes the kick operable.

Miscellaneous
Click here on a news item on what the Niners are looking for in terms of securing other home advantage.

The Compass Solution

Compass Principle: The time that it takes to assess, and position is inversely proportionally to that the time it takes to influence.

By realizing the complexity, the risk, the uncertainty and the volatility of a given situation, the successful strategists take their time to assess their situation systemically.  After a few sessions of intense preparation, the practice of implementing the "assess, position and influence" steps becomes automatic in a "real-time" competitive situation. 

The process model of Assessing, Positioning and Influencing (API) requires some planning, some preparation and practice.  One cannot always prevail in a strategic complex situation by operating from their seat of their pants. 

In a complex situation, some people are not willing to properly take the time to assess their situation especially if they do think that they have the time, the discipline and the drive to perform that function.  Their usual excuse is that they never have the time to assess, position and influence their objective but always have the time to rectify the problematic after-effect from their initial decision.


The Questions of the Day
Do you ever methodically assess the targeted terrain before implementing your action? 

Do you make selective assessment a daily habit?   

# Side note: The key to building this habit begins with the act of centering.

###

The Will to Prepare To Win is Greater than The Will to Win

"The Will to Prepare To Win is Greater 
than The Will to Win.  . . ."
- Bobby Knight 

(updated at 15:15 hr.)

There are many variations of the mentioned quote. The gist is based on the significance of proper preparation in any strategic situation.  

The initial concept of this quote is similar to the "preparation precedes performance."  But the latter does not touch on the psychology of being prepared and how to stay focused on the current objective.  

From our professional experience, the understanding of "the psychology of preparation" usually enables the budding strategist to accelerate their performance of preparation.

Comprehending the reasoning behind the preparation and how to adjust to the situation is the essence of why certain strategists succeeds. 

While knowing the approach to seeing the configuration of one's Big Tangible Picture is the key to a smooth preparation session, defining the specific factors behind the configuration is the real challenge.

Whether the current objective is to prepare oneself for writing software programs or brewing tea or playing Bagua zhang,, he/she is always aware of the next current situation, based on the configuration of their terrain (the priorities, the time of day, the resources, etc.). 

Reading the situation means understanding the importance of assessing, positioning and influencing before ever pursuing an objective.

The low attention people usually have the need for immediate gratification, are usually in trouble in complex situations that require multiple steps. Any encounter of complex obstacles usually frustrate them first and then deter them from continuing.   They are living in the moment.

To strategize well, focus on increasing one's attention span while decreasing the need of immediate gratification 

Psychology is Strategy
A quote could only motivate someone for a limited period of time. But the constancy and the consistency of positive preparation increases one's will to win .

Those who rely on their "emotional will", have occasionally prevail in situations that is driven by short time intervals. But they will burn out in a long time-driven situation.

Methodical By Style: Be Deliberate

Source

(It is presumed that the planning strategist has properly collected the information.)

The first step of planning and preparation begins by methodically outlining each specific objective with a timeline and the approach. Connecting them in a sequential order by the prioritization of objectives while being mindful of the timeline, the allocation of the resources, the economics, the risks, etc. Building the script is the name of the game

The next step is the performance of each step efficiently until one could see the following step while doing the current step. Follow the script. Do it deliberately and slowly until one gets into the flow and ebb of the script.

Side note:  The assessment of one's own tangible situation (including the risk factor and the rewards factor) usually determine the amount of preparation 

This leads to one of our favorite Compass Strategic Principles.  . . .

"The amount of quality time and effort spent in assessing and positioning (through planning and preparation) is inversely proportional to the amount of time  that it takes to influence the circumstance of the objective while implementing through the plan.  .."

We will touch on that specific principle in a future post.