PhotoCredit: Around and Around
The OODA Loop is possibly my most favorite framework. It's inherently squiggly and it helps decode what I think might be the hardest thing about squiggling. Or doing anything new. Which is...where to start.
Starting is hard. Let's face it, getting out of bed is hard. So the notion of both getting out of bed AND doing something radical and new - well that can seem like complex calculus. And I don't know about you but I find basic calculus impossible.
I discovered the OODA Loop quite by accident in this blog. It's worth a read but, you know I love you, so here goes the summary. OODA Loops suggest that the best strategy evolves through a cycle of steps: Observe, Orient, Decide and Act. It allows for iteration in the process of strategy, so we don't necessarily need to have a full battle plan. All we need is to cultivate agility in our pursuit of our vision or goal.
There is a little bit more to it than just this, but frankly I would be happy if your takeaway was "maybe I don't need to know how I am going to get there, I just need to figure out what to do today." I mean, after you have decided what's for breakfast of course.
This becomes very permissive. Big visions can be terrifying and overwhelming. And planning can be distractive busywork. The OODA Loop encourages us to stop thinking about what might happen and instead get really clear about what is happening.
The framework evolved from air combat. At it's core is the observation (that's basically an OODA joke, I'm laughing) that most strategy emphasizes planning over uncertainty. There is some quantum mechanic/mind-bending stuff going on but fundamentally the point is that we don't know today what "the enemy" will do tomorrow. Taken further, we can't plan today for a market that might be completely different tomorrow.
If the past 18+ months of the pandemic have taught us anything, they have taught us this. Tomorrow could radically change the landscape. Tomorrow anything could happen. So do you want to spend today thinking about maybe's or get down to business with what's really going on?