Read time: 2 min 7 seconds / Words: 424
Are you thinking strategically or putting out fires?
Carlo Mahfouz | Dec 17, 2023
Strategic thinking is very hard when you are constantly putting out fires. (Share on Twitter)
A problem arises, and we run to fix it. Another one surfaces even before the first one is resolved, and we are pulled toward it. The flood continues up to a point where the stack is as high as a mountain.
And as we fervently try to peel one issue at a time, the pile never seems to get any smaller. It's hard, and to be fair, sometimes we do not really have an option. If our home is on fire, we can't wait and come back tomorrow to put it out. It needs to be extinguished now.
And in that now, we need the most immediate resolution. Otherwise, everything will burn to the ground.
This scenario plays out more often than not in our personal or professional lives. And yet, amid this commotion, what is often missed is long-term strategic thinking. One occludes the other.
And in reality, if a problem is a fire, there is no choice but to handle it. Yet, is every issue a fire? Consider the weight and the label as in that characterization lies the answer to allow for a breathing room for strategic thinking to happen.
Are you thinking strategically or putting out fires?
And as we fervently try to peel one issue at a time, the pile never seems to get any smaller. It's hard, and to be fair, sometimes we do not really have an option. If our home is on fire, we can't wait and come back tomorrow to put it out. It needs to be extinguished now.
And in that now, we need the most immediate resolution. Otherwise, everything will burn to the ground.
This scenario plays out more often than not in our personal or professional lives. And yet, amid this commotion, what is often missed is long-term strategic thinking. One occludes the other.
And in reality, if a problem is a fire, there is no choice but to handle it. Yet, is every issue a fire? Consider the weight and the label as in that characterization lies the answer to allow for a breathing room for strategic thinking to happen.
Are you thinking strategically or putting out fires?
A Poem: The will, the might that never desist by Carlo Mahfouz
In the heat of moments,
something stirs and often misses,
and yet, even with that in mind,
there is a will that persists,
refusing to desist
from taking a reprieve.
The sound shatters
the inner cries of frustration and anguish
and, in the middle of the night,
succumbs to the craziness induced
deafening the heart and mind in a single blow.
In the silence of an induced coma
of nothing and all,
it’s hard to remember how it was long before
and where it could ever be forever more.
The will, the might that never desists,
sits idol behind and above in missing the truth.
Often, it dwindles yet never falters,
for its might is not for us to bear
or its will a feat that we could dare
to witness in all of its care.
Thought Leader FeatureFollow here →
& one resource: 100% Energy by Dino Carella
This very short post by Dino has such a clear message that I wish everyone hears. He said: “Presence is the math that a divided mind can't grasp. The energy busket gets empty only when there is conflict between you and this moment. Then you can be tired 100% and living life ...%.” I love the way he frames different situations.
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