The Art of Strategic Patience

A key to winning on the battlefield is to give the enemy the illusion that you are everywhere when you are not, to hold back and allow for some losses so that you can strike when the enemy is overextended, tired, too confident, and running out of supplies. There is great strategic benefit in allowing an enemy to enter deep into one’s territory, far away from their border, and keeping them there for a long time as they lose their support lines and confidence. Allowing for this while attacking the enemy with guerrilla tactics from unexpected positions.

And then, the cherry on top is to ignite smaller conflicts deep within the enemy territory at seemingly random places. So, war is a lot less about might than it is about illusion and surprise. As Sun Tzu says, "Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak." Take this literally, or understand it as the power of unpredictability.

A nation with a large, strong army will have hubris, especially when they’re making gains. And in their hubris lies their weakness. In not knowing the territory they’re in lies another weakness. While much can be destroyed with overwhelming military power, winning becomes less obvious. The enemy can feel that there are 20 tanks where there is one or 200 where there are five. The enemy can be made to feel that they’re surrounded by a brigade when the ruckus is created by a small unit of warriors.

But all of this requires patience, and the beauty of patience is that few possess it. Very few generals, warriors, and leaders of nations possess patience. People, in general, are not patient, leading to lost opportunities or, as in the above case, defeat or simply never winning. In business, patience wins; in investing, patience; in sales, patience; in founding a startup, patience; in sports, patience.

Something scarier than a general marching towards your border with all his might is the general patiently waiting in the hills behind. If there is one skill that is ever so hard to learn, it is patience, and not just patience but strategic patience. Patience where you will tolerate small losses for larger gains, losing smaller sales for large sales, losing smaller investments for large investments, and losing smaller relationships for larger ones. Where you learn to let the enemy take a few villages so you can take their capital.