A simple strategic approach to improve your life

Find the main aspect of life that requires change

Most people will not hesitate to answer which strategic improvements they desire the most, and the range of relevant life aspects will be unusually wide: from losing weight to romantic acquaintance, from harmony between work and personal life to accumulating wealth, from a rich social life and the joys of communication to opportunity. devote more time to yourself.

All these facets of existence have one common property: the one that is chosen correctly gives rise to a sudden insight: “This is it, that cherished one that will give me the joy of life, disperse the clouds over my head and make absolutely happy for a long time”. The strategic aspects of life resonate deeply in your soul, making it clear what exactly you want to improve on them. Below are some questions to help you start looking for the strategic aspect of your life.

Which side of your life do you most want to improve? What are the first three things that come to your mind?
What activities give you the most joy and a sense of well-being? What needs to be done to devote more time to these activities?
What aspects of your life cause you the most fear, anxiety, or anxiety? What would help ease these feelings?
Look back at the past five years: do you regret not being able to change something during this time? What would you most regret as you remember your life on your deathbed?
How would a trusted friend, life partner, or beloved answer these questions for you? (It is very helpful to ask them about this.)

It would be nice to pick up not one, but several aspects of life for improvement, since not all simple rules are equally applicable. Three to five desired improvements are enough to start with. The first draft of the list usually features very generalized values, such as family, wealth, and health. This is a good start, but finding the bottleneck is easier if you narrow these concepts down to more concrete, measurable goals that can push your arrows apart.

At this stage, try to formulate the desired accomplishments as specific as possible. For example, the goal of "eating right" can be specified: "lose weight by five kilos", "become more energetic" or "keep blood sugar levels under control through diet." As you can see, these are all very different goals, requiring the application of different simple rules.

Find stumbling blocks on your way to your goals

Having decided which side of life you would like to improve, move on to the next stage - finding a bottleneck. A personal bottleneck, like its business cousins, is the specific activity or decision that simple rules can have the most impact by pushing your arrows apart.

The bottleneck is the surest point for applying simple rules, and the rules applied to it should increase your personal values.

The best personal bottlenecks deserve the title of strategic bottlenecks, as working with them will help you create lasting personal value. Simple rules can be productively applied to dozens of different personal activities, but you will have to spend time and effort to formulate, test and hone these rules. It is most beneficial to direct your efforts to the case or solution from which there will be maximum return.

Answers to the following questions will help you determine the most promising candidates:

What deeds or decisions prevent you from achieving your goal?
For which aspect will the rules have the greatest impact?

A productive bottleneck should not only create personal value, but also be suitable as a point of application for simple rules. Repetitive actions (rather than one-off decisions) are the best candidates, and then the time and effort invested in writing the rules will pay off in the course of their repeated application.

Good bottlenecks are, for example, how a married couple handles financial disputes or how household responsibilities are divided, as opposed to choosing a candidate to marry at a time.

The actions and decisions you repeat on a daily or weekly basis provide empirical data to evaluate how effectively the rules are working and adjust them in the right direction.

Simple rules work especially well in situations where the number of options exceeds the amount of resources required to implement them, for example, when you are thinking where to invest capital, what repairs to do at home, or what to spend the freed up hours on. Simple rules are best for guiding decisions that require flexibility, such as when choosing a diet or parenting for your little one. If you have problems with mechanical memory (say, you always forget what things to pack for your business trip), then it is more appropriate to make a checklist than to fence in rules.

Finally, simple rules are great for channeling willpower and are therefore especially suitable for dieting, exercising, saving money, and other things that involve sacrificing momentary temptations for big long-term gains.

A bottleneck does not have to meet all of the above criteria, but the more criteria it does, the more benefits from simple rules will be. When looking for a bottleneck, remember that you are looking for some kind of stumbling block on your way to achieving one of your personal goals. Here are some key questions to help you prioritize correctly.

Do you often make such a decision or are involved in a similar business?
Are there more choices available than the amount of time, money, energy, or attention you have at your disposal?
Does this matter require willpower?
Does this case or solution need some flexibility?
Is it possible to measure the results achieved in order to test and improve the rules?

After assessing the importance and potential of those actions or decisions that may be particularly relevant to achieving your goals, select the specific bottleneck that you need to expand. When choosing a bottleneck, it is useful to show the utmost care and accuracy, because the data with which you operate can play a decisive role.

For more information on how to formulate simple rules and why they work at all, read the book “Simple Rules. How to Succeed in a Complex World”.