One of the parts of any type of business that confuses people is making a mental split between tactics and strategy. This is important, both from a planning point of view, but also surprisingly for your morale.

I am not talking about strategy versus tactics to be pedantic. It actually goes deeper than that.

Being strategic means more …

• … joined up thinking – If you focus on tactics without thought to strategy, how will you know the domino effects (both good and bad) that you are putting into place?
• … long term thinking – Tactics are often atomic and short term. For your true profitability and business health you need to also look long term, and not take actions that while seemingly beneficial now could harm you long into the future.
• … of the right things at the right times - Timing might not be “everything” but it is absolutely important. With a strategic plan in mind you can make sure you are doing the right things at the right times.
• … confidence to do what needs to be done – When you only think about tactics you would have thought you would be able to pick and choose from approaches like an all you can eat buffet, but in fact what seems to happen is people fixate on one or two preferred flavor of the month hoping THIS is the fix you are hoping for, rather than putting together an effective menu. It’s like binging on snacks versus the full three courses with coffee to finish.

In fact though there is another benefit, and the inspiration for this post.

This fifth benefit only gets realized once you have FAILED.

Think about it, if your plans consist of a to-do list of tactics, if a bunch of them don’t turn out well then you get disheartened. It’s a constant battle to compare yourself against arbitary points scoring.

If instead you look at the long game, the war rather than the individual skirmishes, you can see that while some individual elements might fail, you are making up for it by exceeding expectations in others. Then there are the cumulative benefits of tactics working together in tandem, and the learnings you gain when you face challenges.

I came to this idea today after being absent from my business for a week due to a home problem. All my tactical plans, diary entries and task lists went flying out of the window as I prioritized family. Crazily rather than returning to an apocalyptic scene things in my business are in much better shape than I could have imagined. Obviously I have a lot of disapointed people who were expecting things from me, but because I had strategies and systems in place I do still have a business and things have moved on without my involvement.

The lesson is clear, work out your long term plans, work strategically and get your systems in place now before you need them.

Things will be much easier, less stressful, and if the time comes you will be glad you took the time.