Every great achievement requires both strategy and tactics. One without the other leads to wasted effort or aimless planning. I learned this lesson while serving my sentence. When I was in solitary confinement at the start of my prison term, I had time to think deeply about where I was and where I wanted to go.
I hated being in prison. I was in my early 20s, facing a sentence that would require multiple decades for trafficking in cocaine. At the time, I didn’t even know how to process that length of time—I hadn’t even been alive as long as the sentence I expected to receive.
I didn’t just worry about getting through prison. I also worried about what kind of life I would lead after my release.
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
– Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Reading The Art of War by Sun Tzu helped me understand the difference between strategy and tactics:
- Strategy is the big-picture goal—the vision for where we want to go.
- Tactics are the specific actions—the steps we take to move forward.
Strategy is the roadmap. Tactics are the steps we take to reach our destination.
I understood that I would need a strategy to guide me through the crisis of long-term imprisonment. Like many people in a crisis, I dreamed of coming out stronger. I wanted to:
- Be financially successful
- Live a life of meaning and relevance
- Have opportunities to contribute
But dreams without action are just fantasies. To succeed, I needed a clear strategy. My three-part strategy became:
- Educate myself – Knowledge would open doors.
- Find ways to contribute to society – Giving value to others would create opportunities.
- Build a strong support network – Relationships would help me succeed after release.
But strategy alone wouldn’t lead to success. I needed tactics—concrete actions I could take every day to execute my plan. Some of the tactics that helped me included:
- Reading books about business and personal development – This helped me learn from others’ experiences.
- Writing book reports – Reinforcing what I learned kept my mind sharp and focused.
- Completing courses – Earning credentials gave me credibility and confidence.
- Finding mentors – Learning from experienced professionals opened doors I never could have opened alone.
- Studying financial markets – Understanding how wealth is created and managed prepared me for post-prison success.
Tactics had to be flexible. As challenges arose or new opportunities opened, I would have to adjust my approach. Many people fail in their goals because they don’t balance strategy and tactics effectively.
- A weak strategy with strong tactics = You’re working hard, but you might be moving in the wrong direction.
- A strong strategy with weak tactics = You know where you want to go, but you’re not taking effective steps to get there.
- A strong strategy with strong tactics = You’re taking intentional steps toward a well-defined goal, increasing your chances of success.
“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”
– Winston Churchill
Having both a clear vision and a structured execution plan is the winning formula for success. The same principles apply to any major goal in life. I use still use them today, and I encourage others to do the same:
- If you want to increase your earning capacity, you need a strategy (career plan) and tactics (learning new skills, networking, building experience).
- If you want to lose weight, you need a strategy (improving health) and tactics (meal planning, consistent workouts, tracking progress).
- If you want to become a better investor, you need a strategy (wealth-building goals) and tactics (studying financial markets, diversifying investments, taking calculated risks).
Success requires a clear plan and executing it daily. No matter what challenge or goal you face, you need both a roadmap and the right steps to move forward. Every day, I still use this same approach in business, advocacy, and investing.
Big goals don’t happen overnight. They happen through disciplined, tactical execution.
Self-Directed Learning Question:
- What goal are you currently working toward, and what specific tactics are you using to move closer to success?
