The Art of War: Summary

The Art of War by Sun Tzu presents thirteen chapters that describe how to factor in all important
variables when trying to win a conflict or war. The principles can be applied to various problems in the
society such as in military tactics, challenges of the marketplace, and personal struggles.

As a senior military officer in the state of Qi, Sun Tzu grew up with an education focusing on
military affairs. Part of the resilience of Sun Tzu's ideas comes from his success as a general. Ancient China
was a complex chessboard of highly civilized yet warring states, and Sun Tzu enjoyed a respectable career
within this challenging environment. Sun Tzu was in the employee of He Lu, the ruler of the state of Wu,
who made him a general of the kingdom. In this role, Sun Tzu participated in numerous campaigns. His
successes included the destruction of the Yue state, the territorial expansion of Wu, and the occupation
of the city of Ying.

Sun Tzus "Art of War" is not limited to narrow military concepts such as positioning soldiers on
the field. He also took into account all the forces acting upon a state. War is considered a tool of the state.
As Sun Tzu wrote, "War is a matter of vital importance to the state; a matter of life or death, the road
either to survival or to ruin."

Among the many sage pieces of advice that one can take away from the "Art of War" is Sun Tzu's
insistence that war should not be started hastily, with optimistic assumptions, or without good
intelligence. The stakes in war are too high for the state to lose, so therefore it must only employ its
military tools when it can achieve victory. The economics of warfare is repeatedly stressed by Sun Tzu
because of the heavy toll that maintaining an army in the field extracts from its society. War should not
be the first tool that a state uses to gain its desired outcomes because it is so expensive.

From Sun Tzus literary work, I have learned many things but the learnings that struck to me the
most was that if we want to win, we should not just win but win with flying colors. In order to do this, we
must be a clever fighter who is confident, strong, knowledgeable, patient, and committed. I can very much
relate to this in dealing with my own struggles in life. Each one of us have our own battles to fight. When
I study, I tend to think that I still have a lot of time to finish my tasks when in fact, I dont. I also tend to
procrastinate a lot. In order to improve myself, I should always remember to have patience in studying.
Patience is a virtue while procrastination is virtually a sin. Patience is waiting for information or an
opportunity to move forward while procrastination is deciding to avoid a decision. Patience is taking
responsibility while procrastination is giving your power away. So always be patient and never
procrastinate.