CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES

"He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight." 

by Sun Tze

Sun Tzu recommends that military commanders avoid spreading their forces too thin, as that would make an army weaker throughout. Similarly, in your career, if you spread your skills over too many diverse areas, you won't be able to specialize in anything. That is not to saying having diverse skills won't help you get a job, but you have to diversify your skills in a smart way. In business, you have to choose battles all the time, whether it be choosing between project proposals, prioritizing requests for renegotiations, or choosing when to challenge a counterpart. 

Sun Tzu's teachings can be applied to one's personal battles by helping us appreciate that self-improvement isn't just a matter of sheer willpower. When we have good habits we want to develop or bad habits we want to kick, it is helpful if we put ourselves in favorable conditions that will encourage success rather than make our challenges more difficult.

Sun Tzu recommends following the path of least resistance. If you have multiple habits you want to build, you should start with the habits that are easiest to start, rather than completely trying to change your life all at once. Much like the feng shui tradition, Sun Tzu uses the metaphor of water flowing through the path of least resistance to describe the optimal course of action.