The “Art of War” remains the most popular and famous military text. This book was written more than 2500 years ago for Sun Tzu, a Chinese general, military strategist, writer, and philosopher. Nowadays is still used by many companies and people worldwide to conquer their battles.

To be honest, I was writing this article with another purpose. However, suddenly an inner voice started to talk to me. A lot of images about what is happening in the World were flashing in my mind. It was like a sequence of events we are facing today. Something like, deaths, COVID-19, pandemic, economy, etc. So I thought, how we can apply all the strategies suggested by Sun Tzu to face this battle?. I have read uncountable times the phrase. “Follow your heart, follow your inner voice that is what really matters”, so I decided to follow it.

Throughout this post, we are going to list some of the most famous Sun Tzu strategies and I will try to associate and apply them to our current war: COVID-19.

He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty

“It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies and do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” — Sun Tzu.

This could sound obvious. However, the big questions here are. when we conquer others, and when we conquer ourselves?.

Conquering Others

We are going to set a name for “others”. Others are your enemies, your battles, your struggles. In this particular case, its name is COVID-19. Having said that, according to Sun Tzu the ability to conquer others means to figure out their strengths and weaknesses and all possible information we can gather from them. So information really, really matters is the only thing you have to predict or make better decisions

Our enemy now is COVID-19. Itself is no bigger than we are thinking it is. The big problem is we have been bombarding with a bunch of disinformation, misinformation about this virus. So the first battle is to calm down and know all official information from the medical experts about our enemy. And from our side to make the proper research on the official and reliable sources too. As we know more about COVID-19 we will be one step ahead of it.

When we know perfectly to our enemy, we have more chances to conquer it- Blarz

So, let’s knows well to our enemy: COVID-19

What are the symptoms of COVID-19

According to the World Health Organization, the most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. These symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually.

Should we worry about COVID-19?

Illness due to COVID-19 infection is generally mild, especially for children and young adults. However, it can cause serious illness: about 1 in every 5 people who catch it need hospital care.

How long does the virus survive on surfaces?

It is not certain how long the virus that causes COVID-19 survives on surfaces, but it seems to behave like other coronaviruses. Studies suggest that coronaviruses (including preliminary information on the COVID-19 virus) may persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days. This may vary under different conditions (e.g. type of surface, temperature or humidity of the environment).

I highly recommended you read all about the virus here

Conquering Yourself

Now, we know a little bit more about our enemy is time to know ourselves. Basically, conquer yourself is the conscious process of understanding yourself. It is a conscious effort. It is the ability to dive into yourself. It’s when you decide to explore and be conscious to no more lies to yourself. It comes down to the action of being vulnerable, your self-doubts, insecurities, etc.

So now you know a little bit more about yourself is time to identify which actions and things you are doing or you will do that will lead and put you and even others at high risk of COVID-19. For example, trips, soccer matches, concerts, public events, and all things that represent a high risk.

Furthermore, this war (COVID-19) represents an opportunity to think about our eating habits mainly since it is related to it. Being conscious of how I can become a healthy person from now on.

The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.

To win 100 battles is not the height of skill, to subdue the enemy without fighting is.”

From my point of view, we don’t need to fight against COVID-19 if this hasn’t arrived yet to our country, city, neighborhood or home. All energies should be pointing out to make all efforts in prevention and education. We shouldn’t waste any energy and resources waiting for COVID-19, we must act NOW. How? So as someone once said. “He will improve his behavior who knows which habits to start with and which ones to leave for later.” We should start off to implement healthy eating habits, workout routines, spend more time with our loved ones.

We definitely will win this battle, however, we are probably going to lose important resources, energies and the worst, lives. This will not happen if we would be prepared and so avoid the war against it.

We should anticipate a real and exhausting battle with the simple fact of starting doing good habits and stick to them from now on because this is just one virus, we don’t know the future. By starting now to do good habits we are not just preparing to face the COVID-19 but also we are preparing to avoid future pandemics.

Know and choose when to fight

“He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.”

In the same way that Sun Tzu argues armies should only engage when they have a clear advantage, we have to pick our battles in real life. However, since COVID-19 is already a war that most of us have to wage there’s no other way that fights it, unfortunately. This, of course, in places where it already arrived.

The attack is the secret of the defend, the defense is the planning of the attack

Preparation is everything, will win who, prepared himself, and waist to take the enemy unprepared

To Sun Tzu, preparation represents everything. This means that half preparation or not enough preparation will represent high risks to lose the battle.

If we really want to avoid losses, you must be able to defend. However, we shouldn’t spend too much on building a strong defense.

The better defend is the attack.

Timing is essential

Who hit first, hit twice — Blarz

The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.

Sometimes we overestimate timing, an this is a factor that lead you to win. We have to be extremely prudent in choosing the timing of when to attack the COVID-19. While having a good strategy in mind is essential, a plan is only as good as it is appropriate for the situation.

There two situations to take into count. The first one is whether the virus has already arrived at you, family, community, city, etc. If this the case timing for this case represents how you have prepared to hit it. You probably set a series of rules and policies in your home or community to fight against it before it arrived. And the second situation is if the virus hasn’t brought yet. You should have a plan to execute at the right moment when it arrives. We don’t need to rush or desperate. If we have a plan just is missing to implement at the exact time that makes it necessary to execute it.

The battle is won in the mind

Getting the right state of mind, don’t freak out!

Before you set foot on the battleground, know in your mind that you will win. To win the battle to COVID-19 first we need to set the right mindset. All of this applies if you are not still fighting. If you are now fighting, read the next point below.

To win this battle we need to travel to the future and visualize how you will win. How strong you will need to be. How resilient you will need to stay. In general, if you are able to feel the bad and worst feeling in the battle in your mind, you will win. I know, is not easy, for those who are now fighting, but for who is still ok, win that battle in your mind.

In the midst of chaos, there is also an opportunity

According to Sun Tzu, change is one of the most important factors in deciding the outcome of a battle. Since COVID-19 is more spreading across the world every day and the fact we are now in front of a pandemic. This brought some really big challenges and battles to face together. The good news is that it also comes on its back big opportunities as well. In spite of that everything might seem like chaos today, I just want to remember that there are many opportunities to become a better human being: a better friend, a better dad, a better son, a better mom. It’s time to not panic, instead take care of your body and mind, put attention to your dreams. Without health is impossible…

So this is the time where we need to remain calm and keep an open mind during an uncertainty that is best-positioned to take advantage of opportunities.

Don’t be panic, and don’t freak out. We need to be prepared for the worst. However, we must get ahead of taking the right risks. Public well-being should first thing all the time.

Final Thoughts.

We are strong and we will stronger if we attack together. Certainly, will wage this battle. Just act now!. Preparation, education, and prevention are the keys to winning against it. Please read all info about this on https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses

Thanks for reading!