Have you ever wished you could know how to if not retain control, then at least respond to any situation you may face? What if I told you that there was a tool that could show you how to do just that and that it’s been flying under the radar for at least 40 years? The OODA loop is a tool adopted by the Marine Corps and other branches of the US military. With it, they’ve achieved military superiority in conflicts from Desert Storm to the war on terror. And as a business owner, you can use it to find the success you’ve been searching for.

Col. John Boyd, USAF developed the OODA loop, which stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. It’s basically the codification of the decision-making process that we all go through. Boyd also teaches how we can use the OODA loop to win in any situation. Let’s take a look.

Observe

You should be constantly observing what is going on around you. This allows you to create what is called an “open system of knowledge”. In other words, you’re constantly learning about what is going on around you. This is called situational awareness. Situational Awareness gives you the opportunity to respond faster than anyone else. The first-mover advantage is HUGE. Once we’re actively observing, it’s time to orient ourselves.

Orient

This is the crux of the OODA loop. It’s the place where we take our existing mental models, or how we have planned to respond to a given situation, and see which one fits best into the situation we currently face. Boyd said that the people who win are the people who are able to quickly and effectively perform two steps: 1- destructive deduction where you strip down given circumstances and mental models to their individual components, and 2-creative induction where you take those components and discard the unnecessary, reassembling them into something new. It is this ability that determines success, especially if you can do it faster than your opponent.

Decide

This should be the shortest phase in the loop. The longer it takes for you to decide, the more time your opponent has to dictate the terms of the engagement through their action. If this were the scientific method, this would be your hypothesis phase.

Act

Implement the new mental model and recycle through this iterative process.

Using the Loop

OODA is a continuous cycle. The goal isn’t to win, per se but rather to interrupt the pace of your enemy’s own OODA loop, and make them respond to what you’re doing, instead of implementing their own mental models. Just like Star-Lord does at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy. He breaks the bad guy’s OODA and makes him restart the process over again, Giving Star-Lord’s team the opportunity they need to shoot him with their really big gun, and eventually save the day.

You wanna win? Start using your OODA and breaking your opponents. Keep your eyes and ears open, and learn to orient yourself through destructive deduction and creative induction.

For more info about the OODA loop, check out the Art of Manliness’s VERY thorough examination. It’s the best out there.