Go grab your deck and use the cards as you follow along…
What is a Tactic?
Tactics are the cards that make up the majority of your deck.
There are five parts of a Tactic…
1. Border Colour. Notice the colour around the card. The colours are: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple (some decks include dark purple, too). The border colour signals which Category the tactic belongs to. A Category is a group of cards about a similar topic.
2. Time Estimate. Look at the front top-right corner: some Tactics show an estimate of how long it takes to complete the activity. These are based on a team of 4–7 people.
3. Introduction. On the front of the card, there is a bold introduction sentence that explains what you gain from using the Tactic. There’s also a short (not bold) paragraph that gives a little more detail on when and why to use this Tactic.
4. Recommended Tactics. Now, look at the footer at the bottom of the card, below the introduction – you can find recommended tactics that work well with the one you’re holding.
5. Instructions. And finally, flip the card over and look at the back: this side of the card is dedicated entirely to the step-by-step instructions on how to apply the Tactic.
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Your turn: Choose any Tactic in your deck and find the five parts. Then, leave this tactic on your desk and challenge yourself to see how you can apply it this coming week!
How do I find the right Tactic?
We recommend two ways to browse the Tactics to find a solution for your problem…
1. Headlines
Flip through the entire deck and read the bold text on the front of each Tactic card. The bold sentence is the core summary of what that Tactic is. Create a small pile of tactics that relate to your situation, then choose the most relevant one to try when you have finished reading headlines. Trust your gut and stay open-minded.
2. ‘Tarot’
Pull out three Tactic cards from your deck at random. Read each one and think about what area of your life you could apply them to. Challenge yourself to find a way to connect with with your current challenges.
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Your turn: Choose one of the two ways above to find a Tactic – then place it on your desk where you can see it, so that you can use it this coming week.
How do I to use the Strategy System (Category Finder)?
The Strategy System is a simple flowchart that helps you find the right Category of cards for your current needs. Here’s how it works:
- Start at the top of the flowchart.
- Read each question and answer “Yes” or “No”.
- When you reach a question you answer “No” to, stop there. This is your Category of cards to explore.
Each deck is divided into different Categories based on common challenges you might face. To make it easier to find, the icon color for each Category matches the border color of those cards.
Not sure what each Category is about? Don’t worry! On the back of this card, you’ll find descriptions of all the Categories to help you understand their themes.
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Your turn: Read through the questions on your Strategy Systems card now, when you answer ‘No’ this is your Category to explore!
How do I solve bigger challenges with Recipes?
Recipe cards are a sequence of Tactics to help you achieve a specific goal. Think of them as blueprints for tackling complex challenges.
How to use Recipe cards:
- Front of the card: Introduces a common problem you might face.
- Back of the card: Explains how to solve the problem using a combination of Tactics from the deck.
You can choose to:
• Follow all five suggested Tactics
• Pick a few that seem most useful to you
• Adjust the Recipe to best fit your specific situation
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Your turn: Read through all the Recipes at the front of your deck – set the one most relevant on your desk to try out this week!
How do the Pip Deck employees successfully use their Pip Decks?
Here are some examples of how the employees at Pip Decks find the Tactics they need.
All the ‘Approaches’ are explained in the above sections.
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Your turn: Stop thinking and start doing. Choose one of these approaches and try it out now, or even simply check out one of the cards we found!
Remember, even the things that ‘don’t work’ can teach you something valuable and new….and don’t forget to have fun!
Thankyou for such a simple and easy to follow get started guide. I was really struggling to wrap my head around my deck and reading this top to bottom has major helped. I am going to try out using my strategy system card now!!
This is fabulous, I’ve been using the Decks for a few months now, but didnt really understand the Recipes until now. Excited to use my first recipe with the team this week.
ohhh the Tarot technique for finding a tactic is fun.