Stage 1 is a Failure of Tactics.
These are HOW mistakes. They occur when you are careless with building robust systems, fail to measure carefully and forget the details. A Failure of Tactics is a misstep in going off with a good plan and a clear vision.
Stage 2 is a Failure of Strategy.
These are WHAT mistakes. They occur when you follow a strategy that is incompetent in getting the results you want. You can know why you do the things you do and you can know how to do the work, but still choose the wrong what to make it happen.
Stage 3 is a Failure of Vision.
These are WHY mistakes. They occur when you don’t set a clear direction for yourself, follow a vision that doesn’t fulfill you, or otherwise fail to understand why you do the things you do.
Stage 1: A Failure of Tactics
The three main ways to fix Failures of Tactics are:
1. Record your process. Whether you’re managing a business, taking care of a family, or catering to your own life, forming great systems is crucial for repeated success. It all relies on whether you are writing down each crucial step of the process and forming a checklist you can follow when life gets hard to manage.
2. Measure your outcomes. Measure anything that is crucial to you. If you seldom measure your results you will never clearly know which tactics are working.
3. Review and adjust your tactics. Constantly reviewing and improving how you do your work are the major requirements that you need to fulfill. Successful people regularly give up on tactics which don’t help their strategy and vision in moving forward.
Stage 2: A Failure of Strategy
1. Launch it quickly. All of the planning and research and design is just pretext. “You haven’t really started working on [your idea] till you’ve launched.”
2. Do it cheaply. It reduces your attachment to a particular idea. If you give in a lot of time and money into a specific strategy, it will be difficult to give up on that strategy.
3. Revise it rapidly. Strategies are meant to be revised and adjusted.
Stage 3: A Failure of Vision
1.Take stock of your life: you need to take stock of your life. What do you want to accomplish? How do you want to spend your days?
2. Determine your non-negotiable. Your “non-negotiable” is the one thing that no matter what may happen, you are not willing to change it. Be static on the primary vision you had and not on this particular version of your idea. If your non-negotiable is to be a successful businessman, then there are various pathways to accomplish that vision.Once you are confident in your vision, it is rare to lose it in one fell swoop.
3. Navigate criticism. Criticism can mark your failed strategies and tactics and it is rarely an indicator of a failed vision, assuming you’re a reasonable person with good intentions.
Now and again you need a few tactics to form enough out space to solve out your strategy or vision. You might not be walking the wrong path after all. It’s just that there is so much hotchpotch around you that you can’t see the path. Figure out the correct channels and strategy, clear out the extra shenanigans and you’ll find that the vision often discloses itself.