Personal strategy — having the long view about yourself
The hardest part of doing something is often said to be the first step; take that moment and the momentum will carry you forward to completion. I would argue that as wise as these words are, the hardest part is having a personal strategic vision that you can follow through on no matter what swerves you to take.
I have not always taken this approach to myself, for despite being an inveterate planner during my twenties I would invariably suffer from shiny syndrome and get distracted Mr Toad-like by the next new thing. Granted, Toad probably is still my spirit animal, but the way I co-opted him was to form a strategic vision of my self that I could execute and move onwards with.
The PhD I am currently studying is part of this process. Back in 2014 I declared bankruptcy due to unforeseen circumstances, which essentially caused me to hit reset on most of the things I valued in life. Faced with a decreasing series of choices, I managed to get my first full-time contract job in the creative industries with an eye on possibly building my free-lance work. Long story short I ended up shifting from contract to contract for another 18 months, swerving into a Games Technology Foundation Degree at Nottingham Trent to reskill so I could actually have a piece of paper that proved I knew what I was talking about.
So far so Toad. However, being 34 meant that I had to have more than just whimsy on my side. I looked strategically at what the post-Brexit job market was likely to be, namely if I wanted to work or study overseas I would need more than a Foundation Degree to get me by. Thus, two years turned into three.
It was at this point that I knew that two things would define possibly the next ten years for me: Getting a First in my degree and picking the right Masters. And the small matter of whether I wanted to follow through on the dream of getting a doctorate just because I fancied one. My third year was spent feverishly doing the work, getting accepted onto a Project Management MSc at NTU, and then plotting how to get paid work over the summer that actually meant something. Strategically, I knew if I wanted to do research, I needed experience, so I managed to land a research role within NTU that enabled me to develop my skills. And I got the First.
Three for three, but not without the help and support of the people at NTU. This was probably the most crucial aspect in helping me overcome my inner Toad. I was able to network with the right people at the right time, ask the right questions, and most importantly deliver on my promises. My strategy was to push myself and maximise my opportunities. I trusted that even if only one of my strategic shots came to pass, I was moving in the right direction.
It was in mid-2019 that I had a critical decision to make with respect to my PhD. I knew that given the job market in 2020/21 I would need a PhD that came with full funding and a stipend, so I did the only sensible thing of applying to Stanford, Oxford, University of Southern California, Bath, University of Nottingham and NTU. I got bounced by all but one, and that one is where I am at today. My intention was not to be scattershot; rather, each application helped hone my understanding of myself and where I saw myself ending up at the end of the PhD. My trip out to California at the end of 2019 sealed my next five-year strategy of seeking out a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford.
My strategy is always to be ambitious — aim for the stars and if you hit the moon you have done well. I do not think I have got lucky; I have had to put the hard work in and have a clarity of purpose, while at the same time being very targeted about what I want and can achieve with the resources available to me. Ambition is not the same as arrogance, and by co-opting my inner Toad I recognise that options are never a bad thing. If the right moment opens itself up to me I have no hesitation in swerving, just making sure I have at least one eye on my overarching personal strategy.
Did I expect to be doing a PhD focusing on algorithmic platforms and the Law? No. If anything, after I left the legal profession in 2014 I swore off ever working in the legal sector again. However, one thing that the last six years has shown me is that while the short term may swerve into unexpected opportunities, my strategic vision has remained pretty much fixed. Who knows precisely where I will be in 2024 when I complete my PhD, and even if I don’t end up at Stanford I know that I will have given it my best shot.
Strategy is more than having an eye on the future while fighting today’s fires. It is about understanding what battles you need to fight to achieve your goals, being optimistically realistic about what you can do with the resources, time, and scope you have available to you, and then being able to swerve into new opportunities that fit this strategic vision. No strategy ever survives impact with reality, yet at the same time without at least a modicum of strategy even the best elements of life can fall flat and not lead anywhere.
Achieving goals is far more than box ticking and personal stakeholder management. It is about building friendships, having adventures, reading that pile of books, and all the myriad other things that spark joy. That strategy helps shape and focus that joy is never a bad thing; rather, it helps you find purpose in yourself and your journey no matter where the destination ends up.
