Nov. - What's Your Intent, Commander?

Or- All I ask is a tall ship and a star to sail her by.

Photo by Jean-Philippe Canto

For the past month, we have focused on the idea of organization by elimination. The fewer things you have to organize, the easier the organization becomes.

• We talked about how the Reticular Activating System forces us to see the things we tell it are important (even when they’re not).

• We talked about the Eisenhower Matrix and categorizing events by their importance and urgency.

• We talked about establishing a Battle Rhythm and daily routine to keep us on track.

• And last week, we talked about breaking our days into Four Quarters, each with identifiable metrics to help us win the quarter and win the day.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle famously said, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

Similarly, once you eliminate the superfluous in your daily schedule, whatever remains, must be important.

By trading events for time, we give ourselves space to make the best possible decisions about how to spend that time in pursuit of our goals.

In the military, we call this insight ‘Commander’s Intent’ which FM 3-0 defines as:

"A clear, concise statement of what the force must do and the conditions the force must establish with respect to the enemy, terrain, and civil considerations that represent the desired end state.”

As we have already established, in your life you are both the ‘commander’, and the ‘force’, (or maneuver unit) and we are always battling the enemy, terrain, and civil considerations in our everyday lives. As the commander and the maneuver unit, you must both plot the course and sail it. You must plan the route and Walk Point.

The fact that you are your own commander can be easy to forget. There are plenty of people who will happily take command if you allow it.

Certainly, the advice and counsel of family, friends, and a coach or mentor are invaluable, but giving anyone else the authority to make these decisions for you is tantamount to abdicating responsibility for your own happiness and success.

When devising your Commander’s intent it is necessary to identify three things:

• Task- What you need to accomplish

• Purpose-Why you need to accomplish it

• End state- How you will know when it has been accomplished (Finish line)

A task without a purpose is meaningless.

A purpose without a task is aimless.

And either without an end state will go on forever.

Being clear about your what, why, and finish line serves as valuable criteria when you are developing your daily, weekly, and monthly battle rhythm. As Seneca said,

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.”

The distance to our end state or finish line will vary wildly depending on the level of our objectives as shown in the chart below:

Figure from Joint Publication 5-0, Joint Planning, June 2017

These objectives correspond to the three levels of war, Strategic (National and Theatre), Operational, and Tactical. We’ll get into these in the coming weeks.

For now, it is enough to recognize that establishing your commander’s intent is a first step in preparing yourself for success. As Edmond Gibon said, “The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigator.”

At the end of the day, all we can ask for is as Willy Wonka said, “A tall ship and a star to steer her by.”

Of Course Willy Wonka only said it because British poet John Edward Masefield said it first in his poem, 

Sea-Fever:

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
 
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
 
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

In December we'll be talking about tall ships and stars and establishing strategic objectives. Please join in and bring a friend.