Life is War
You may disagree with that.
You may not like to think of your life as a war, but it is.
The most commonly used definition of war comes from the military strategist Carl von Clausewitz, who said, “War is a clash of opposing wills.”
Tell me of a day when you haven’t experienced the clash of opposing wills.
Your boss wants you to do something you think is unnecessary or in a way you disagree with.
Your spouse wants something done, but you don’t feel like doing it.
Your kids want something from you when you want to take a nap.
Clients, friends, and coworkers want you to do things you’d rather not do.
We constantly experience clashes of opposing wills with others, and we have to choose which battles to fight and how.
But that's not the real war
These are minor skirmishes on the periphery of the war that draw our attention and drain our resources.
The rear war is fought within ourselves.
The more significant battles are, and always will be, fought with ourselves between the id and the superego, with the ego trying to play referee.
When you tell yourself, you’re going to get back in shape and plan to get up early in the morning and go to the gym, but then you wake up and battle to stay under the covers.
When you promise to start eating better but decide to go to the new pizza place and stuff yourself.
When you tell yourself you’re going to go to bed early, but there’s a great TV show that comes on.
When you say you’re going to spend less time staring at your phone, but find a YouTube video that sucks you in.
The biggest battles that we fight will always be within ourselves.
A clash between what we want to do now and who we want to be in the future.
So yes, life is war, and we’re in it every day.
You can go about this a couple of ways.
You can be a pacifist, going through life aimlessly and choosing not to fight.
You can be a bar brawler, randomly picking fights and throwing everything you have into them without any long-range plan.
Or you can fight like a disciplined special operation unit.
In military strategy, there are three levels of warfare: strategic, operational, and tactical.
Some people make the mistake of only trying to fight at one level.
You can’t win the war unless you are fighting on all three levels, and the plans and actions at each level must be nested within the larger plan.
The first step in planning is to start with the strategic. The overall goal.
In World War II, the Allies’ strategic aim was to defeat the Axis powers and remove their will and ability to wage war.
That was a lofty goal.
It’s overarching and perhaps a little light on the specifics, but that’s OK.
Because once we have a strategic goal, we move backward to the operational level of warfare.
This requires putting our heads in the books, knowing our enemy, and studying and determining the key components we must achieve in order to gain victory.
Think of operations like Operations Overlord, the invasion of Normandy.
These are all culminating events.
Multiple precursor steps were involved in achieving them, but once achieved, the Allies held specific ground, key terrain, and infrastructure that enabled the next operation.
And each operation is made up of daily tactical actions.
Every gunfight, every patrol into behind enemy lines, every bridge blown.
All tactical actions must be aimed at achieving the operational goal, and those operational goals are again aimed at attaining strategic victory.
If tactical units fight fights that do not lead to the next operational objective, they are wasting blood and treasure.
If you fight fights that do not move you toward your next goal, you are wasting time and energy.
Until next week,
Keep Walking Point
John
If you have any questions or feedback about today's newsletter or if you'd just like to reach out, email me at john@walkingpoint.org. I’ll do my best to respond as quickly as possible.
