Be deliberate in your approach to life, and success will come your way.
Recently, I have been thinking about deliberate action in the pursuit of long-term success. Is there a formula or framework we can predicably use to achieve our goals and objectives? Three mutually exclusive actions spring to mind: strategic, tactical, and opportunistic actions.
Each of these actions has a different timeframe, defining feature, and core components. They also account for both internal (such as your priorities and objectives) and external factors (such as new job offers or a significant change in your personal life). When combined together, these three types of action serve as a holistic formula, collectively covering all major actions in a success-driven approach to personal development. Over the long-term, using this approach will help you achieve your goals and objectives while feeling like a successful person.
Strategic Actions
Strategic actions are long-term, with defined and measurable outcomes. By long-term, I mean these actions are sustained over an extended period. Over the course of that period, strategic actions remain fixed, adhering to the parameters defined at the beginning of the period. Measurability is a defining feature of this kind of action which complements the fixed nature of strategic actions. When the action is initially defined, it is important to set out key indicators that the action has been achieved. This is an innate part of the planning process that is fundamental to strategic thinking.
| Action | Timeframe | Defining Features | Trigger |
| Strategic | Long-term | Planned, fixed, measurable | Internal intention |
| Tactical | Short-term | Planned, fixed, enabling | Internal intention + external factors |
| Opportunistic | Real-time | Unplanned, reactive, judgement-based | External factors + judgement |
By way of example, a strategic action might be the writing of a book, launching of a business, or taking a long-term investment position. In each case, the outcomes of the action are defined at the outset. ‘I will have published my book’, ‘my company will achieve a revenue of X’, or ‘my portfolio will achieve X% ROI’. These outcomes are clearly measurable, with the first being a clear yes/no question about whether the book has been put in print. In the other examples, a quantifiable success criterion has been calculated and set out the outset.
There is significant benefit to be gained from the stability of strategic actions. Setting long-term goals with defined outcomes that can be clearly measured is a crucial element of success. Strategic actions encompass projects and activities that can only take place over an extended period and are often particularly complex. Stability is derived from the maintaining of the definition fixed at the initiation of the action, notwithstanding some degree of flexibility to account for changes in circumstance. In turn, the stability of strategic actions brings stability to your life. This takes place through the accountability generated by the necessity to commit to the work required to achieve your defined outcomes.
Tactical Actions
Tactical actions are based on short-term expedience. Many tactical actions will enable the pursuit of strategic actions, but at worst they will have no effect on them. Active engagement is a core component of tactical and strategic actions. They are not reactive , but are based on an affirmative decision to undertake them.
Where strategic and tactical actions diverge is in their measurability and timeframe. Assessing the success of a tactical action is measured through perhaps as little as one key result, as opposed to the often more complex measurability of strategic actions. Indeed, there is greater flexibility in tactical actions, as criteria for success may change or adapt between its initiation and completion. Above all, the defining feature of tactical actions is that they are devised, implemented, and completed in a short-time frame, usually within a year.
While there might be years between the initiation and the payoff of strategic actions, tactical actions inspire confidence by providing you with important victories every year. With this iterative reward process, you not only become successful, but feel successful.
A tactical action might be that you know you want to go for promotion at the end of the year. It is January, but there are several factors affecting your planning for the next twelve months. First and foremost, promotion is important for your long-term goal of career advancement. However, you have a lot of work to do for your current project and your partner is pushing to move into a new apartment together by April. It is at this point that you make the tactical decision to focus your work on your current work project into activities that you can narrativize for your promotion pack.
At the same time, you freeze your gym membership and plan a home-workout routine between now and April to help save money for your deposit. This has a secondary benefit of giving you two extra evenings a week to concentrate on other work that will enrich your promotion pack. The key outcome is getting promoted at the end of the year, with an additional goal being moving in with your partner. These are short-term goals that in the first case enable and in the second have no effect on your long-term goals. They are actively planned but there is adaptability in the way you achieve them. This is a tactical action plan.
Acting tactically has the principal benefit of responsiveness to external stimuli. Context affects our plans, meaning an overly rigid plan runs the risk of being derailed by unexpected circumstances. Tactical actions enable adaptability while still aiming towards important short-term objectives. These short-term objectives are the key enablers of the achievement of long-term objectives.
Planning and executing tactical actions is iterative, providing you with short-term wins that can build momentum over time. This is not just a vital enabler of long-term success. It also engenders a positive and fulfilling lifestyle. While there might be years between the initiation and the payoff of strategic actions, tactical actions inspire confidence by providing you with important victories every year. With this iterative reward process, you not only become successful, but feel successful.
Opportunity Actions
Opportunistic actions are reactive, allowing you to respond to real-time changes. A ‘change’ might be the emergence of a new opportunity, or a contextual change in circumstances. It might be a change in your personal life or a new pressure emerging at work. These and many other forms of unanticipated change have a profound effect on our lives – and our ability to achieve our long-term goals. There is not enough time or data to define measurable success criteria for opportunistic actions. Instead, they require good judgement and a deep understanding of what does and does not support your long-term objectives.
Opportunism [is] both an insurance policy and a success multiplier. You have sense of security that you can change your plans if problems arise, and the excitement of the knowledge that every door is open to you.
For example, imagine you are in a role at work that you quite enjoy, that you are reasonably good at, and with a fair chance of progression over the next five years. There is no reason for you to actively seek exit opportunities. However, unexpectedly, a position at a bigger company with the chance of exponential development opportunities is offered to you. You have limited time to make your decision. There is no time for a complex cost/benefit analysis or a detailed breakdown of desired outcomes and how to measure success. The opportunistic action is to seize the new job offer, accepting the risks that comes with rapid decision-making.
Opportunism is often viewed negatively as an almost mercenary behaviour. However, opportunistic actions are critical to long-term success, as they enable you to quickly respond and adapt to changes around you. On the one hand, they allow you to avoid paralysis or collapse in the face of unexpected problems. On the other, they drastically increase your potential for success. They do this by widening your perspective, eliminating tunnel-vision in favour of adaptability. Opportunism therefore becomes both an insurance policy and a success multiplier. You have sense of security that you can change your plans if problems arise, and the excitement of the knowledge that every door is open to you.
Holistic Personal Development
Utilising strategic, tactical, and opportunistic together is a coordinated and holistic approach to achieving long-term success. Each of the actions discussed here are beneficial in isolation. Defining measurable success criteria for long-term objectives gives you direction, with significant payoff upon completion. Setting short-term goals creates quick-wins that build momentum and make you feel successful. Real-time opportunism lets you capture new chances of growth and success, while insuring against unexpected problems.
But the real benefit of this approach is that it provides a comprehensive framework for your actions in all timeframes while factoring in both internal and external factors. Covering all of these bases also avoids over-fixation on any particular timeframe – a distorted perspective that leads to missed opportunities and vulnerability to emergent risks. Ultimately, planning in the long-term is crucial, but it must be accompanied with the ability to adapt in the short-term and even in real-time. This three-pronged approach drastically increases the likelihood of the achievement of your long-term goals as well as the cultivation of a success-oriented lifestyle.
