Strategize Your Life: Unlock the Secrets of Living Your Best Life

Video Summary

In this video, Rainer Strack, a former senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group, introduces the "Strategize Your Life" concept - a seven-step process for applying strategic thinking to personal life planning.

Key Points:

1. Life strategy is an integrated set of choices that positions a person to live a great life, defined in terms of positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, achievement, and vitality.
2. Individuals can assess their current "life portfolio" - how they allocate time and energy across 16 "strategic life units" - and identify areas of high importance but low satisfaction.
3. Making intentional choices to reshape one's life portfolio can help align it with one's purpose and vision for a great life.

Insightful Ideas:

• Applying methods and frameworks from one discipline (corporate strategy) to another (personal life) can yield valuable new insights.
• A fulfilling life is not just about money, fame, and power, but also about finding meaning, building deep relationships, and achieving a sense of accomplishment.

Actionable Advice:

Take 20-30 minutes to map out your current "life portfolio" and identify areas for improvement. Look for "quick wins" - easy changes that can quickly boost your satisfaction in key areas.

Use Strategic Thinking to Shape Your Ideal Life

In today's fast-paced world, it's all too easy to get caught up in the daily grind and lose sight of what truly matters. But what if you could apply the same strategic thinking used in corporate boardrooms to design the life you want to live? That's the premise behind "Strategize Your Life", a concept developed by Rainer Strack, a former senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group.

Strack observed that the principles of corporate strategy - defining success, clarifying purpose, setting a vision, and making intentional portfolio choices - could be just as powerful when applied to one's personal life. By going through a structured seven-step process, individuals can create a personalized "life strategy" that positions them to live a truly great life.

Defining a "Great Life"

The first step is to define what a "great life" means to you. Strack notes that many people default to thinking about money, fame, and power as the markers of success. But research from positive psychology suggests that a great life is better measured by factors like positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and a sense of achievement.

Strack introduces the "PERMA-V" framework, developed by psychologist Martin Seligman. This model suggests that a fulfilling life is built on six key pillars: Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Achievement, and Vitality. By assessing how satisfied you are in each of these areas, you can start to paint a clearer picture of your vision for a great life.

Assessing Your "Life Portfolio"

Once you've defined your vision, the next step is to take a hard look at how you're currently spending your time and energy - your "life portfolio". Strack proposes that we each have 16 "strategic life units", ranging from relationships and family to work, hobbies, and community engagement.

By tracking how much time you devote to each area, as well as your satisfaction and the perceived importance of each one, you can visualize your current life portfolio on a simple 2x2 matrix. This exercise often reveals areas of high importance but low satisfaction - the "urgent" parts of your life that need attention.

Making Intentional Choices

With a clear view of your current life portfolio, you can then start making strategic choices to reshape it. Strack suggests looking for "quick wins" - easy changes that can quickly boost your satisfaction in key areas. For example, reconnecting with old friends or cutting back on time spent on social media.

More broadly, the goal is to align your life portfolio with your purpose and vision. This may require tough decisions, like reducing time spent on less fulfilling activities to free up energy for the things that truly matter. But Strack emphasizes that with preparation and intentionality, you can create the life you want to live.

As the philosopher Seneca once said, "If you do not know which port you are sailing to, no wind is favorable." By applying strategic thinking to your personal life, you can chart a course towards the horizon you desire - and take advantage of the winds of opportunity that come your way.

About the Author

This article was written by the team at Harvard Business Review, based on the insights shared by Rainer Strack in the video "Use Strategic Thinking to Create the Life You Want". Strack is a former senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group who has applied his expertise in corporate strategy to helping individuals design more fulfilling lives.