Criteria for Choosing Activities

What I’m learning about strategy.

A strategy is a specific set of activities that produce a higher value and lower cost than a different set of activities. The point of a strategy is to maximise the difference between the value and the cost.

The thing to understand is, that it’s not just about operational effectiveness, i.e it’s not about just faster, better cheaper, more importantly it’s about choosing activities.

Planning is the act of filling our days with activities.

Strategy is filling our days with activities that fulfil three criteria.

1. This activity will give me a high value payoff today.

2. This activity will give me a high value payoff in the future.

3. This activity fit synergistically with all other activities and don’t compete or clash.

Eating ice cream will fulfils the first criteria but not the second.

Reading to my kid fulfils both criteria.

As I think about a strategy for my illustration career, I’m looking for activities that fulfil both criteria, with an emphasis on number 2.

What makes the overall strategy work is embracing trade off and searching for fit.

I’ll need to choose activities that compliment each other and avoid activities that don’t.

You don’t get to do and be everything.

You do get to choose what you do and become.

Alternatively you can give that choice to an employer or algorithm.

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This is what I’m learning so far as collect material to write a long post on “Strategy for an illustration career” for paid subscribers. Out this month. Ps: my previous long post is available here