I used to think strategic thinking was optional — something successful people did after they'd already figured everything out. Then I started paying attention to the patterns in my own career and noticed something interesting: my biggest regrets weren't about bad decisions I made, but about good opportunities I missed because I wasn't positioned to recognize or capitalize on them.
That's the hidden cost of reactive living. It's not that you make terrible choices (though sometimes you do). It's that you systematically miss opportunities that could have been transformative if you'd been thinking strategically about positioning yourself to take advantage of them.