What Can “The Art of War” Teach You About Planning?

By Sofia Sibila | 27th August, 2022

What is the Art of War?

This book has “Chapters” that explain each stage of a war, full of short rules to follow. We’ll be covering the first rules related to the initial planning of a war. But first, let us better understand the importance of planning.

We may think that students should plan just their school's duties, but that's not right! You can define goals for each subject or plan out a way to equilibrate your hobbies with school. Again, we plan for victory, and if victory means being able to do what you love and do well in school, you're not stuck at boring study tables! That is another “importance” of planning; by planning, we question what we want and we see our goals with a different set of eyes.

By planning you aren’t just perpetuating perfection, but you’re better understanding what you have to do. To be victorious it is necessary to be ready for whatever’s in your path, and by planning you can prepare yourself for the unexpected.

“The one who does not carry out any planning will have little chance of victory”
— Sun Tzu, The Art of War

The Five Fundamental Objects To Meditate On While Planning

Sun Tzu said in his book there were five fundamental objects to meditate on while planning, these are:

• Tao: It is what makes the people at harmony with their chief, ready to follow him wherever he goes.
• Time: It is described as the flowing change of everything around us (Yin and Yang and the change of seasons).
• Terrain: a physical place, stressing the difficulties in getting there and the differences between your initial position and where you’ll be.
• Command: all the values you may have, such as wisdom, honesty, benevolence, courage, and severity.
• Discipline: The organization of the army.

Let us understand what each one of these objects means in our lives and ask ourselves the hard questions.

💡While reading the next paragraphs, try to relate the text to your life, if possible. You can do that by choosing something you need to plan and relate to these questions!

Tao (The Way)

In this context, Tao is the harmony between the chief and the people. The chief needs the people to support him because his force as a leader can only be achieved when he has someone to lead.

Time

Terrain

Terrain could be all the unforeseen surprises that may come through our journey as students. How do you think you can prepare yourself for the unexpected?
In my opinion, the best way to prepare yourself for what you're not expecting is to work on what you're weaker in. Our minds are essential but stupidly weak sometimes, so I guess this is a good place to start.

Command

Command is about understanding yourself and what lessons are useful for you. It is important to have principles and stick to them. By knowing what you believe in and what you want is easier to find the strength to persist.

Write down what you want your life to be like and ask yourself: Do you want to be less anxious? Do you want to finally finish a project of yours? Do you want to be someone better? What do you think you’re good at? What do you think you could work on?

Command is all about your values.

Discipline

We need enough discipline to get up and live, to sit down and study, and to say no. By being able to restrict your life you’ll be able to have the liberty to do whatever you want.

There is a video talking about habits that would be a great cue to start thinking about yourself (The video can help! Stick to the end to get the link). Ask Yourself: Do you feel enough control over yourself to do whatever you want? If not, how can you do it?

Discipline is all about order.

Conclusion