Latest / Inspirations for Your Life / How to Think Strategically (S5) S14:E2

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How to Think Strategically (S5) S14:E2 · Inspirations for Your Life

0:24
Well, hey guys, good evening and welcome inspirations
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for your life.
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It is great to be with you.
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It is a fantastic Sunday.
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It's actually Palm Sunday.
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This is March 29, 2026.
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And again, welcome to the show.
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All right, guys, let's dive into the show.
1:15
But before we do, feel free to go
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get yourself a snack or a water, fruit,
1:19
beverage, healthy, sweet, tart or not.
1:22
That's totally up to you.
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So let's just kick this.
1:25
All right.
1:25
Welcome again to Inspirations for Your Life.
1:28
This is basically series five, show 14, in
1:33
case you are wondering.
1:36
The master topic of the week is owning
1:38
your focus.
1:39
Talking about clarity, courage, and momentum.
1:43
Hey, everyone.
1:44
I'm John C.
1:45
Morley, serial entrepreneur, engineer, marketing specialist, video producer,
1:49
podcast host, coach, keynote speaker, graduate student, and
1:53
a passionate lifelong learner.
1:55
Welcome to this episode, everyone.
1:57
And don't forget, a published author in less
1:59
than a month.
2:01
So yes, welcome, everyone.
2:03
Great to have you here to Inspirations for
2:05
Your Life.
2:06
Today we're exploring how to own our focus,
2:10
to sharpen your perception, act decisively and maintain
2:13
momentum through intentional choices.
2:16
You'll learn to see opportunities others miss, and
2:20
you can think clearly under pressure and turn
2:22
small actions into progress.
2:24
So this is Sunday, and it's about how
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to think strategically.
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Series five, show 14, episode number two.
2:34
Number one, guys, is plan before you act.
2:38
Decisions made with a plan lead to better
2:40
outcomes.
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I've always said, if you fail to plan,
2:44
you have planned to fail.
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Let me say that again.
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If you have failed to plan, you have
2:50
planned to fail.
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Number two, guys, prioritize what matters to you.
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I'm hoping that's from your core values.
2:58
Focus energy on high-impact tasks.
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High-impact tasks, tasks that are going to
3:03
give you a big win, all right?
3:07
And that may not always be obvious when
3:09
you're starting out.
3:11
Number three, guys, strategy beats reaction, hands down,
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every single time.
3:16
Intentional approaches outperform the knee-jerk reactions and
3:19
decisions.
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We all get these knee-jerk reactions and
3:22
decisions, and we take them.
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But they're like, oh, why did I do
3:25
that?
3:26
Why did I listen to that person or
3:27
whatever?
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You have the time to act in a
3:33
way that is proactive and not reactive if
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you don't just follow what everybody is saying.
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You need to be aware of the surroundings,
3:44
aware of who you are and what you're
3:46
doing.
3:46
Number four, guys, focus sharpens the outcome.
3:50
Well, concentrated attention increases the results.
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Identify risks early.
3:57
Prevent the issues before they arise.
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I think that's important.
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We want to be proactive.
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We do not want to be reactive.
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I said this so many times before, when
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we are reactive, it uses so much more
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of our energy.
4:10
And we sometimes get tired of like, oh,
4:12
my gosh, what am I supposed to do,
4:13
right?
4:14
So being reactive, we have to do sometimes
4:17
in emergencies.
4:17
But not every part of our life is
4:20
an emergency, OK?
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Let's just face that right now, all right?
4:25
So number six, guys, consider multiple scenarios.
4:30
Evaluate potential consequences, risks thoroughly, and try to
4:35
mitigate them so they either don't happen or
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are severely lessened, all right?
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So that's an important point, guys, is that
4:42
you have more power than you think.
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You have more power than you think.
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You have more power than you think.
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So let's act with that, all right, guys?
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Number seven, align your actions with your goals
4:58
and your aspirations, which are linked to your
5:00
core values.
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Every step should move you toward your vision,
5:05
toward your vision, all right?
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Your vision comes from, again, your core values.
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It comes from what you want to do,
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who you are.
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But it's also about who you are when
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you're not in public, because people don't get
5:19
this.
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People are one way in public, but then
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when they're alone, they're another way.
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So how you are with yourself is how
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you show up in public, even if you're
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trying to prevent or change that.
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Number eight, guys, number eight, number eight, avoid,
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avoid, avoid impulsive choices.
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Patience, patience, patience, patience.
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Patience improves results.
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We talk about that long-term gratification and
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short-term gratification.
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Most people want the short-term because they
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want to feel something right away, but they're
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not willing to wait.
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When we wait, there are so many precious
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rewards for us.
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Number nine, guys, strategy reduces stress.
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Clear plans, calm decision, pressure.
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Clear plans, calm decision, pressure.
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Strategy reduces our stress, and it clears the
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plans.
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Okay, that's important.
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All right, number 10, think long-term consistently.
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That's not today, that's not tomorrow, that's not
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this week, that's not next month.
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That's long-term.
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I always tell people, you know, we're in
6:33
it for the long game.
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If you have a client and you're trying
6:36
to heckle them or get them to do
6:38
something, that's short-term.
6:40
You want to do what's best for them
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now and for the relationship going forward.
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Let me explain why this is important.
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Not only in a business environment, but you
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might see that person in a non-business
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environment.
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It could be a church or your synagogue
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or somewhere else.
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But the thing is, when we are doing
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the right thing in our business environment, and
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we show up in a non-business environment,
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that person has respect for us.
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That's important, guys.
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So think long-term consistently and maintain perspective
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on future impact.
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That is so priceless, I can't even explain
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it.
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Number 11, decision clarity improves efficiency.
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Decision clarity improves efficiency.
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Clear choices save time and effort, guys.
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Yeah, it does.
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Strategic pauses enhance results.
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Pause to reflect before executing.
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Pause before you execute.
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Because if you just execute and you execute
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wrong, you know what happens?
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You've got to start all over again.
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And although that might sound like a very
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simple task, it wastes time, it wastes resources,
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money.
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It could be people or also resources, right?
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And it also builds on our stress and
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our level of frustration.
8:07
So let's get the kite to fly right
8:10
the first time, right?
8:12
I remember my grandfather was teaching me how
8:15
to fly a kite, and there are different
8:16
kinds of kite.
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There's the basic string kite.
8:18
And a couple of things come on play
8:20
when you talk about kite.
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So one is you get a good kite
8:23
and you make sure you get good string.
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That is really important.
8:28
You don't buy the cheap string.
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And so I remember putting the kite up
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the first time and he even made a
8:38
kite with me.
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But the ones we bought were a lot
8:41
better.
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And I remember to this day, it was
8:43
a diamond kite and you had to hold
8:45
it and then basically you kind of run
8:47
with it and it would take in the
8:48
air and then you kind of like, and
8:49
it was a lot of fun flying a
8:50
kite.
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But when I reflect, if we're in a
8:55
rush to execute and get that kite off
8:56
the ground, we might get it off the
8:58
ground, but then it may topple and fall
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and it could break.
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So we need to pause in how we
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execute and understand those steps and appreciate those
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steps.
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So not only is it executing, getting the
9:09
kite off the ground, it's also how do
9:10
we bring the kite in properly so we
9:12
don't damage the kite?
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That's an important thing.
9:15
And some kites have two string reels, one
9:19
for the left of the kite, one for
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the right of the kite.
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I mean, I remember that being on somebody
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I know that had a Chinese kite, they
9:24
had the two string reels.
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And it's a lot harder when you have
9:27
two string reels.
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But when you plan right, you execute properly.
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Number 13, set clear milestones.
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Track progress toward meaningful objectives, guys.
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Track the progress.
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I'm not talking about social media.
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I don't care if you're talking about your
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education.
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I don't care what you're talking about.
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Maybe you're building a new house or a
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renovation.
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Track your progress toward the meaningful objectives, right?
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We also call them milestones.
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We often call them milestones.
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Because when we celebrate a milestone, it's easier
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to do that than to try to wait
10:03
for the whole project to be done.
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Because the whole project being done might be
10:06
frustrating for us, but we can celebrate a
10:07
milestone and we can then move forward.
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Number 14, guys, balance speed and precision.
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Act quickly but accurately.
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Balance the speed and the precision.
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That means don't go too fast.
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Stay within a certain range so you can
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stay within the lane.
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Let me see if I can give you
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an example.
10:29
Maybe some of you have done race driving,
10:31
even a gaming race driving.
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And if you go too fast, what happens?
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It's harder to take those turns.
10:37
It's harder to stay in lane.
10:39
So we wanna make sure we operate at
10:42
a fast enough speed to allow us to
10:44
stay very precise.
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If we get too slow, then we lose
10:49
our edge of competition if we're in a
10:51
race.
10:52
But we wanna get as quick as we
10:53
can without us losing control.
10:57
Act quickly but accurately, guys.
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That is the whole name of the game.
11:02
All right, small adjustments or pivot points prevent
11:06
mistakes.
11:07
We see something that's not working right.
11:09
We need to adjust.
11:11
We need to shift.
11:12
We need to pivot a tiny bit, okay?
11:17
Small adjustments prevent mistakes and iterative improvements matter.
11:22
Tiny little fractions of a movement, of a
11:25
screw or turn or anything you have make
11:29
a big, big difference.
11:33
Number 16, guys, learn from past outcomes.
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Use history to inform choices.
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So I'm gonna use one we have in
11:45
the technology in MIPS, Millions of Instructors Per
11:49
Second, is that we have something what we
11:51
call a branch.
11:52
We have something called a branch not equal
11:54
to and branch equal to.
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Basically, if it's equal, the two things are
11:57
equal, then we take the branch we go
12:00
to with the labels.
12:01
If it's branch not equal, then we take
12:03
the branch.
12:03
Otherwise, we fall straight through, respectively.
12:08
So when we do branching with calculation, we
12:12
take the branch, we hope we're right, but
12:14
if we're wrong, then we start again.
12:17
But what we can do with predictive branching
12:18
is we can get better by actually looking
12:22
at a database to see basically the history
12:26
of this and then we can make our
12:28
choices that way.
12:29
Number 17, guys, strategy reinforces discipline.
12:33
It does.
12:35
Structured planning builds consistency.
12:37
Structures actually give us freedom.
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That's a real cool one.
12:42
Structures give us freedom, right?
12:46
Number 18, prioritize leverage points.
12:51
Focus on areas with the greatest impact.
12:55
In other words, that's the areas that will
12:57
have the most return on our investment, the
13:00
ones we're gonna see the most change with.
13:04
Important things to understand because if we're working
13:07
on all these parts, but these parts don't
13:10
really have a big effect on the outcome,
13:15
then making changes with them is gonna be,
13:17
well, futile and not worth our time.
13:21
Number 19, guys, map actions to impact.
13:25
Know what each effort produces.
13:28
If I turn this flange or this screw,
13:31
I can know that it will affect it
13:34
by so many degrees left, so many degrees
13:36
right, because I know what the result of
13:39
that does.
13:41
I know that if I post more times
13:43
in a week, I know that I will
13:45
get more interactions.
13:47
I know that if my posts are more
13:49
humane, human-like, I will not only get
13:53
more reactions, but I'll get people to comment
13:56
and that post will go through the roof.
14:00
Number 20, guys, consider downstream effects.
14:04
Anticipate the ripple impact of decisions.
14:07
That's true.
14:09
Because if we can, let's say, predict, even
14:15
roughly, that can help us a long, long
14:18
way.
14:19
Number 21, guys, focus on controllables.
14:22
Invest in what you can influence.
14:25
Focus on controllables.
14:26
Invest in what you can influence, all right?
14:30
Focus on controllables and invest in what you
14:32
can influence.
14:33
Number 22, avoid decision fatigue.
14:36
Limit choices to preserve the energy.
14:40
Limit your choices to preserve the energy, avoiding
14:44
decision fatigue.
14:45
When we have too many decisions to make,
14:48
we sometimes get clouded, and that's why we
14:51
have to reserve time to make decisions when
14:53
we are the most productive.
14:55
It's not that we wanna go through 5
14:56
million decisions, because we're gonna get tired.
14:59
Number 23, guys, review progress daily.
15:04
Consistent reflection fuels growth.
15:07
Consistent reflection, that's when we're going inside and
15:10
we're asking ourself, okay, how did this go?
15:14
Did it go well?
15:15
What could I have done to make it
15:17
better?
15:19
Was it so good that there was nothing
15:21
I could, I needed to change, which I
15:23
doubt.
15:23
You can always make it a little better,
15:24
right?
15:25
So review your progress daily.
15:28
Sometimes you might need to review your progress
15:30
more than I review my progress just before
15:32
I'm turning in for sleep.
15:33
But if you're working on a project and
15:35
you started the project again, you might wanna
15:36
review progress every time you start that project,
15:39
okay?
15:41
It's all relative.
15:43
Number 24, guys, plan feeds momentum.
15:48
Your plan feeds the momentum.
15:52
Organize steps, maintain forward motion.
15:55
In computers, we call something an algorithm, okay?
15:59
An algorithm is nothing more than a set
16:01
of steps that someone has come up with.
16:03
And they're just followed over and over again.
16:06
I'll give you an example.
16:08
If you wanna get the average of someone's
16:10
grade, here's all you do.
16:13
You take all of the numbers, right?
16:15
And you add them.
16:16
Let's say you had six grades.
16:19
You'd add all the numbers up.
16:20
Then you would divide by six.
16:22
So you add all the numbers and you
16:24
divide by the number of grades.
16:27
And you get your average.
16:29
That is actually an algorithm, okay?
16:34
We have other algorithms that help you find
16:36
area, that help you find a perimeter, right?
16:40
We have these kinds of algorithms that we
16:42
have.
16:43
And when we follow the formula exactly, we
16:50
get the result, right?
16:54
That's an important thing to understand.
16:56
And when we get the result, we keep
16:58
doing it over and over again because we're
17:00
happy with our result, okay?
17:03
Number 25, strategy builds confidence.
17:10
A clear approach reduces uncertainty.
17:13
A clear approach reduces uncertainty.
17:16
So when we get clear, it's like, oh,
17:18
I get this, this makes sense to me.
17:21
And we could do more of that.
17:25
Number 26, guys, think ahead, act now.
17:30
Proactive planning meets timely execution.
17:33
So when we are proactive, we are gonna
17:38
be less stressed.
17:39
We're gonna be prepared, okay?
17:43
And we're gonna be able to anticipate things.
17:46
When we are proactive.
17:48
If we're not proactive, everything's gonna seem like
17:51
a fire drill.
17:53
Like, oh my gosh, what do I do
17:54
now?
17:54
Like, did you not plan for this?
17:56
Did you not like research this?
17:59
Like, why are you so new to this?
18:02
Because you didn't think it through.
18:05
That happens with most program managers.
18:07
They put all this time into worrying, but
18:10
they never put the right amount of time
18:12
into their resource allocation and even to explaining
18:15
clear deliverables of the project or expectations.
18:20
Something as simple as writing a software program
18:22
and explaining to your team member, or if
18:26
you're not the developer, explain how do you
18:28
handle duplicates?
18:29
How do you handle certain conditions?
18:33
And not understanding that seems like something simple,
18:37
but it can really cause a bottleneck in
18:39
the program.
18:41
Number 27, guys.
18:43
Insight drives execution.
18:45
Insight drives execution.
18:47
Hands down, every single day.
18:49
Insight drives execution.
18:51
Knowledge translates into action.
18:54
So insight drives execution and knowledge translates into
18:59
action.
18:59
So when we know something, we can apply
19:02
it and we can move forward.
19:04
It's not about if we're gonna move forward,
19:07
but we will move forward.
19:09
And structure, guys, creates reliability.
19:15
The biggest example I can give you to
19:18
structure is when we make, let's say, 3D
19:23
models.
19:25
There's a way to make the 3D model
19:27
one way, and it's quick.
19:30
But then if we make the 3D model
19:31
another way, we need to have more support
19:34
in the base.
19:35
A lot of times, these supports are sometimes
19:38
there that are part of the structure.
19:40
And other times, they're just on the bottom
19:41
while it's being printed.
19:43
So if you don't have the right type
19:45
of support, then the structure may not be
19:51
able to hold together while it's printing and
19:53
also may fall apart as soon as you
19:55
take it off of the base, if it
19:57
does come off a base.
19:58
So I think these are very important things.
20:01
Structure is also important when we think about
20:03
things like the honeycomb structure to bees, right?
20:08
Very, very smart structure, the way it supports
20:12
the strength and everything that they do.
20:15
Structure in our house, structure in bridges.
20:18
If we don't have a bridge that sways
20:20
left and sways right or right and then
20:22
left, what would happen?
20:24
That bridge would snap.
20:28
So we have to build in flexibility, which
20:33
creates reliability, and we're talking about structures.
20:37
Talking about homes, let's say you're building on
20:41
a certain type of ground, like at the
20:43
Jersey Shore.
20:44
Spread footings, is it gonna hack you there
20:46
on the beach?
20:47
What do you do?
20:49
Do you put more foundation in?
20:50
You put a different kind of foundation in.
20:52
You put in basically these long poles, the
20:59
same thing that you actually put in when
21:03
you're gonna put a dock in or something.
21:06
And so these columns or these poles are
21:13
called pilings.
21:15
And there's two ways you could do it.
21:16
You could dry the pilings and you can
21:17
build a house around it.
21:18
Or the other way you can do is
21:19
you can dry them in and you can
21:20
set the house on it.
21:22
So this way the house stays strong.
21:23
There's a couple of ways, depending on what
21:25
you're trying to achieve.
21:27
But structure creates reliability.
21:31
Reliability allows people to continue working without chaos.
21:35
Number 29, guys, clarify trade-offs.
21:40
Consciously, know what you sacrifice to gain.
21:44
Sometimes we lose something, okay?
21:47
We don't know why we lost it, okay?
21:53
There's an interesting thing I wanna share with
21:55
you guys.
21:56
And it goes just like this.
22:02
Price, quality, and speed.
22:11
And a wise person I know said, John,
22:14
if I give you price, quality, and speed,
22:16
what does that mean to you?
22:18
I said, I don't know, what does it
22:19
mean?
22:20
Well, you can only have two.
22:22
That means you can't have the other.
22:23
So if you have P and Q, P
22:26
plus Q, price and quality, okay?
22:31
Then no speed.
22:33
If you have speed and quality, okay?
22:38
Speed and quality, guess what that means?
22:41
You can't have a good price, okay?
22:47
So we did price and speed.
22:50
We did speed and quality.
22:52
What's the last one that we didn't do?
22:56
So we did price.
22:58
So price and quality is one way.
23:01
Speed and quality, we get price, right?
23:05
So I call it S and Q, P
23:09
and Q.
23:13
Price, quality, and speed, okay?
23:18
So if we do price and speed, okay?
23:25
Guess what we don't get?
23:29
We get no quality.
23:32
See how that works?
23:33
And it works every single time.
23:35
It's so darn cool.
23:38
So number 30 is strategic thinking empowers growth.
23:43
Intentional decisions compound our advantage.
23:47
Decisions are something people rush to do like
23:50
busy work.
23:51
But I don't think people understand that when
23:53
you rush a decision, the implication of the
23:56
decision will keep coming back to you, especially
24:00
if it's wrong.
24:01
Time and time again, you're like, oh, I
24:03
can't believe I did that.
24:05
I can't believe I made that choice.
24:06
I can't believe I paid that color.
24:07
I can't believe I made that investment.
24:10
I can't believe I did this.
24:11
I can't believe I did that.
24:12
All because you didn't take the time, you
24:16
rushed in.
24:17
People do it when they rush to sell
24:18
stocks.
24:19
They do it when they rush to buy
24:20
stocks, right?
24:23
People make a lot of, let's say, bad
24:26
financial decisions.
24:28
Other ones, let's say they make a lot
24:30
of relationship decisions.
24:32
They trust somebody too early, right?
24:37
Or they don't put trust in them at
24:39
ever, right?
24:41
So these are different things that can pop
24:43
up in your life.
24:45
And it has to do with being strategic.
24:50
The product didn't get to market because we
24:55
didn't take the proper time to do the
24:57
R&D, the research and development.
24:59
We didn't take the proper time.
25:03
Our project didn't get completed.
25:10
Because we didn't have a schedule.
25:12
Because we didn't hold the deadlines.
25:14
Because we didn't make our team accountable.
25:19
It's making sense?
25:21
Now, strategic thinking doesn't just work in the
25:26
graduate world and beyond.
25:27
It works in grammar school.
25:29
It works in kindergarten.
25:33
It works in high school.
25:36
And strategically thinking, if you don't strategically think,
25:39
then you can't put the pieces together.
25:42
If I don't know how to form a
25:45
base or how to form an acid or
25:47
how to create a reaction, I don't understand
25:49
those things.
25:50
If I don't understand them at the very
25:52
basic level, how can I apply them and
25:54
put them together?
25:56
I was told by somebody the other day
25:58
that college, specifically the graduate level, is about
26:01
giving you large, enormous amounts of information and
26:05
trying to get you to synthesize the information
26:09
and be a little bit of devil's advocate
26:11
by not sharing with you what they're gonna
26:14
test you on.
26:15
Seems a little oxymoron-ish, if you ask
26:18
me.
26:19
But apparently, that is the way of grad
26:21
school, where they give you so much information.
26:27
And you need to be a sieve.
26:28
They need to be able to just recite
26:31
back what's needed.
26:32
I think a more strategic way would be,
26:35
this is what we need to learn, and
26:36
this is what you need to know.
26:40
But school has gotten so much into two
26:42
things, money and politics.
26:45
Well, that person's been around for years, so
26:47
they're an amazing professor.
26:48
Just because they have a tenure or more,
26:50
that doesn't mean that they're an excellent teacher,
26:52
even though they have it in their ego
26:55
and they've been there so long.
26:56
So I think strategic thinking is taking the
27:01
information we're given and being able to build
27:04
something new.
27:05
That's what strategic thinking is about.
27:10
Wow.
27:12
And you're gonna keep learning how to think
27:14
the rest of your life.
27:15
It doesn't just start and stop now.
27:19
If you don't keep strategically thinking, you're gonna
27:23
cap yourself, and you're never gonna reach full
27:26
potential that you have.
27:29
Wow.
27:30
We covered a lot of stuff here, guys.
27:34
And in case you guys did not know,
27:36
I am John Seymour, a serial entrepreneur.
27:39
It's always such a privilege, a pleasure and
27:40
honor to be with you guys here on
27:41
the amazing inspirations for your life.
27:44
Be sure to check out, yes, now the
27:46
show is over, believemeachieved.com.
27:48
You can check out my short form content,
27:50
my long form content, my articles, and my
27:53
reels.
27:54
And there's so much more.
27:55
So definitely guys, check that out.
27:56
And if you're not strategically thinking now, it's
28:00
time that you start.
28:01
Have a good one and be well, everyone.
28:45
You didn't listen to the video.
28:47
I would tune in next Friday where I
28:50
give more details about this.
29:06
Watch the video from Friday night from the
29:09
tech show.
29:09
And I think it'll be very clear what
29:11
we're talking about.
29:12
It uses a very unique principle with fusion,
29:16
unique fusion principle.