Strategic Acceleration by Tony Jeary (#2)

Clarity and the ability to focus on high leverage activities (these are the activities that will have the largest impact on what you are looking to do) are essential steps in the Strategic Acceleration process.

"The basic definition of clarity is having an unfettered view of your vision, which is what you want and why you want it, fed by an understanding of its purpose and value". (page 50)

Most of us know what we want and why we want it. This is how we get our vision. Now, have you thought about why that is important to you? How about why that is important to others? If you can answer those questions, you can understand the purpose. "Purpose is a transcendent concept that actually wraps itself around your vision and carries it" (page 57)

If you are a leader in your life, company, or other organization, "the ability to communicate purpose in conjunction with a vision has a powerful effect on others. ...that purpose provides specific direction and it begins to bring practical application to a vision. A vision without a specific purpose may come across as a whim", and it is hard to get people to believe a vision like that.(page 55)

One section of the 3rd chapter struck home with me. While we all strive to be more tactically effective (learning how to a specific task better or more quickly), it might make more sense for us to review strategic effectiveness. More specifically, we should look for "new ways of thinking, not just new ways of doing things" (page 66) This relates to the idea of creating clarity because you must change the way you are thinking and acting to achieve new results (you can just do the same things faster).

"Preparation and planning are important, but excessive preparation is nothing more than procrastination" (page 67) Once you have clarity, it will destroy "procrastination because the action you need to take is vividly clear." (page 68)

There is a testimonial in this book and the biggest take away is captured in these statements "Before working with Tony, we had a view that was farther into the future than we could really see." Once you have clarity "all you have to do is take the steps that clarity has illuminated for you". (page 70 & 71)

When Tony Jeary writes about focus, he states that it is the opposite of distraction. Also, he mentions that our brains are designed to take in information from many sources so it is "the path of least resistance" for a human to become distracted. Focus is the 2nd step in the Strategic Acceleration process and "is not something that comes naturally for most people, and that is why it is a skill that must be learned, polished, and practiced" (page 79).

"Clarity about your vision of the future is vital to maintaining focus in the present." (page 88)

"We all want to be in control of our lives, but achieving that control is impossible if we allow our thinking to bounce back and forth between the past and the future. When we do this, we hop right over today, which is the only place we can really do anything that has significance. The only thing in life we can control is what we do from moment to moment, and that is the bottom line of focus." (page 93)