A couple of years ago, I boarded a flight to visit my family for a short break. As the plane took off, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was a little off. On paper, everything was fine, but there were some question marks buried underneath. It’s not a particularly original crisis - so much of it was driven by social media, showing us curated lives, snippets and success stories designed to impress. And with AI delivering knowledge on demand, there’s almost a pressure to have your life figured out instantly. The problem is, when everything’s available, it’s easy to lose sight of what really matters.
I realised I was applying strategy to everything except myself. Around that time, I read a Harvard Business Review article that touched on applying strategic thinking to personal growth. It did make me wonder - if businesses can thrive by applying structured models and frameworks, why couldn’t I do the same for my own life? It planted a seed of an idea that I decided to explore. I’ve helped businesses navigate complexity for years - using tools like SCQA, hypothesis problem trees, and frameworks like What, Who, Why, How to simplify problems, find clarity, and structure effective solutions. But when it came to my own life, I was often improvising. So, I decided to bring structure to my own sense of direction.
First, I asked myself the most fundamental strategic question: What’s important to me? It sounds obvious, but when you try to capture it on paper, you’re forced to prioritise. I made a list - health, friends, creativity, autonomy, making an impact. But then I went a step further and rated them from 1 to 10. And then I rated where they stood right now. That’s when it becomes a bit more difficult. Perhaps I said friendships were a 9 in importance. But if I wasn’t putting all the effort in, was I really valuing them? Autonomy always scored high for me, but I was realising how often I was compromising it. It was like doing a SWOT analysis applied to my own life - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats laid open. And the gaps became obvious.
Identifying strengths was next. Strategists are trained to identify what makes something unique, but it’s quite a different exercise when turned inward. You don’t always get social proof for your strengths in the same way a brand does. It requires honesty, and a willingness to see yourself without the haze of aspiration. Then I moved on to values. Companies love talking about values, but how often do we truly interrogate our own? I made a list - authenticity, creativity, compassion. Narrowing them down was tough. But the exercise itself was valuable. As Paulo Coelho writes in The Alchemist, “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.” Understanding your own values is about striving towards something, not simply coasting along.
Mapping out the activities that genuinely light me up came next - the things that make me feel alive. And I realised how little time I was actively dedicating to them. It’s like a business that’s brilliant at making furniture but spends all its time selling shoes. You lose sight of what actually works.
The question that followed was: What need can I help address in the world? I’ve always cared about big ideas - equality, kindness, access to education. Articulating those goals on paper made them real. And then I tried to distil it all into a purpose statement. Something like: “I want to spark and lead conversations to build a world of fairness, opportunity, and compassion.”
This exercise didn’t produce a flawless roadmap, but it wasn’t really supposed to. However, it did provide clarity - my own kind of compass, built from my values and strengths. Strategic models like SCQA or SWOT aren’t just business tools. They’re tools for life. SCQA helps me frame challenges, break them down into actionable parts. Hypothesis problem trees allow me to visualise root causes versus symptoms. Applying these models to myself has given me something invaluable: clarity.
None the less, strategy isn’t a cure-all. Life is unpredictable, and while frameworks can provide clarity, they can also create an illusion of control. The truth is, we use these tools to make sense of complexity, not to master it. And applying strategy to personal growth isn’t necessarily revolutionary. In many ways, it’s obvious - think of practices like cognitive behavioural therapy, which involves breaking down thoughts and behaviours into manageable parts to identify patterns and address underlying issues. But just because something is obvious doesn’t mean it’s easy. Recognising that gap is where the value lies.
So, here’s the takeaway. If you feel like you’re drifting a little, take the time to break things down. Define what matters. Write it down. Rate it. Identify the gaps between where you are and where you want to be. As The Alchemist reminds us, “People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”
Perhaps most importantly, strategic tools can push us to engage with our own complexity. It’s not about eliminating uncertainty, but finding clarity within it. And if you do this honestly, you’ll end up with something invaluable - a strategic framework for your own growth. Not a rigid plan, but a guiding star you can keep returning to when things feel unclear.
Applying strategy to your own life isn’t about control - it’s about clarity. And in a world drowning in information, that’s worth more than ever.
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on April 10th, 2025