Unlearning Strategy: 3rd Way as the Ultimate Way

There is a lot of power in the number 3.

In many ways, it is part of the universe to have 3 forces.

Be it Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma in Hinduism.

The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit in Christianity.

Or, Active, Passive, Neutralizing forces.

I don’t know what this force is but 3 definitely has some spiritual importance.

The 3rd Way as the Ultimate Way

Now, connecting this idea of 3 to strategy, I’ve often seen that people either see the ways as either the Right path or the Wrong path.

The way with many pros or the way with many cons.

However, there can be the 3rd way too.

This is what led to the Middle Path developed by the Buddha.

He looked into the two extremes that people tended towards in practical life which was either indulgence in sensual pleasures or severe asceticism.

But, the Middle Path was developed based on taking what was good and eliminating what was bad from each.

When there is a will but no ‘obvious’ way, there is the 3rd way

This idea of the 3rd way is also useful in the notion that when there is a will, there is a way.

This can be best described by the story of Narasimha, who was considered as Lord Vishnu’s fourth avatar in Hinduism.

Lord Vishnu is considered to have taken multiple incarnations on earth in order to stop evil and restore peace on earth.

Though the story has lot of background to it, the gist is that an evil person named Hiranyakshipu gains boon from Lord Brahma that no man, god or animal created by Brahma be able to kill him.

Also, nobody could kill him at day or night, and no one could kill him in heaven or on earth. Also, no can could kill him with a weapon, or kill him either inside or outside his house.

This made him close to immortal and with this newfound power, he caused a lot of destruction throughout the world.

But at one point a true devotee of Lord Vishnu, who is actually Hiranyakshipu’s son Prahalad is in danger as his father wants to kill his own son for Lord Vishnu’s devotion.

This is when Lord Vishnu comes in the incarnation of a half lion half man to save the devotees and the world.

Narasimha dragged him to the threshold of the door, which was neither outside nor inside his house. He placed him on his lap, which was neither sky nor the earth, and killed him with his claws at twilight, without using any weapons.

What this story makes clear is that whenever you believe there is no solution towards a problem, it is time to unlearn this belief.

The solution might be completely unconventional, but it exists.

Applications of the 3rd Way

This concept is especially useful for developing an approach or strategy really for anything.

We have normalized either the Right Way or Wrong Way and if that’s not possible than decide there is no way.

The process of actually finding is to understand both the thesis and anti-thesis in detail. This will enable to see what to absorb, discard, & add from both sides.

It is usually the un-thought of approach yet the most effective one.

An example of doing might be in becoming more effective in getting a major goal of yours done. Similar to a marketing funnel, we can see the process of getting things done as a funnel too with different steps.

Atleast for me, whenever there is a goal, I tend to go through a process something like this.

However, I’ve seen my flaws in the sense that I tend to spend way too much time in the 1st three parts of the funnel till task breakdown.

Yet, through experience, I’ve come to realize is that an actual implementable set of steps comes after the first execution attempt.

You get many reality checks of your plan and develop the actual plan which is feasible after that first execution attempt.

Thus, more and more, I’ve been focusing more of the attention on the bottom of the funnel towards execution and elements within that such as tactics and testing.

My results have drastically improved as a result of it.

The whole idea of the 3rd way is of getting the right things done more done lot less people in lot less time with the same level of quality.

Finding it is something that takes time.

But once found and implemented, it will leave you way ahead from anyone, in anything.

Eventually leading to the 3rd way as the ultimate way.