Learn to think strategically (2)

By taking the time to acquire knowledge, you’ll be ready for the opportunities life brings. If you are not prepared, they’ll pass you by and go to others. God said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). Observe: (3) Strategic thinking prepares you for the future. None of us know what tomorrow will bring. “Don’t brag about your plans for tomorrow—wait and see what happens” (Proverbs 27:1 TLB). The only thing that’s worse than the uncertainty of tomorrow is having no plan and strategy for your life. (4) Strategic thinking reduces the margin of error. Any time you shoot from the hip, you increase your margin of error. It’s like a golfer stepping up to a ball and hitting it before lining up the shot. Misaligning a shot by a few degrees can send your ball a hundred yards off target. Strategic thinking lines up your actions with your objectives, just as lining up a shot in golf helps you to put the ball closer to the pin. The better you are aligned with your target, the better the odds that you will be going in the right direction. (5) Strategic thinking gives you influence with others. One executive quipped, “Our company has a short-range plan and a long-range plan. Our short-range plan is to stay afloat long enough to make it to our long-range plan.” That’s hardly a strategy, yet it’s the position some of us find ourselves in. The person with the plan is the one with the power. Whatever activity you’re involved in, strategic thinking is essential to success. Talk to God about it.