Recognizing where we are in relation with our vision and objectives is vital to the success of what we endeavor to do with our life. Comparing where we are with where we desire to be is the foundation of managing the situations occurring in our lives. This level of awareness where we feel the tension between our aspirations and our current situation is the grand tactical level. This tension is creative in nature provided we can let go of our judgements of ourselves and especially the judgements of others. When we experience this creative tension, we have the opportunity to align the goals we choose with our objectives and targeted activities. It is the space within ourselves where we are aware of our strengths and weaknesses. It is a place where we recognize opportunity to release the tension as well as threats to break what connects our aspirations and our current situation.

Suppose we were in college studying to be an engineer and found that half way through the degree program we were not doing so well in the subject of calculus. Perhaps we even failed calculus II with a D. We could get depressed and quit or we could assess our situation and recognize what’s happening. Perhaps we did really well in the first course of calculus. When we took on the second course, we also took on more credit hours than we could realistically manage. In this situation, we have to admit that we have a load limit on how many courses we can take. We may want to also consider whether we have the capability to understand calculus. Was our failure due to inability or lack of focus? Also, if we don’t retake the course it could threaten our vision of becoming a successful design engineer. Knowing that we aren’t planning on taking any courses over the summer we have the opportunity to take only calculus II during summer school while we return to living at home and thereby keep ourselves on track to reach the objective of a degree as we intended. This example shows the value in recognizing our grand tactical situation relative to our immediate activities. It also shows that we can manage our situation if we align what is actually happening in our lives for better or worse with the objectives that we have decided to pursue. Fundamentally, to know how we do the things we do and evaluate our own effectiveness and efficiency at achieving our goals and objectives is of utmost importance. A failing grade is simply feedback. It’s up to us to correct the situation and prevent its recurrence and increase our value to our future self.