Talent and Skill Thesaurus: Strategic Thinking

Choosing a talent or skill that fits with your character’s personality, lifestyle, and values can go a long way to helping them break free of the common stereotypes seen so often in fiction. This thesaurus will help you find the perfect quality or two that will show readers your character’s uniqueness while also acting as an asset when it comes to goal achievement.

When choosing a talent or skill, think about the personality of your character, his range of experiences and who his role models might have been. Some talents might be genetically imparted while others are created through exposure (such as a character talented at fixing watches from growing up in his father’s watch shop) or grow out of interest (archery, wakeboarding, or magic). Don’t be afraid to be creative and make sure the skill or talent is something that works with the scope of the story. 

Strategic Thinking

Description: The ability to accurately view and assess present-day reality in order to plan for and create the future that one desires (winning a game, reaching a personal goal, growing one’s business, etc.)

Beneficial Strengths or Abilities: being able to look many steps ahead, being able to evaluate available information and accurately predict what’s coming, identifying patterns, being able to learn from past mistakes, having good recall, being a good…

Character Traits Suited to this Skill or Talent: bold, alert, objective, observant, analytical, intelligent, patient…

Associated Stereotypes and Perceptions:

• Stereotypes: chess players, gamers, generals and other military personnel, business sharks and CEOs
• Perceptions: Strong strategic thinkers are frequently portrayed as greedy, pushy, or cold. This type of character is often socially awkward, being so project-oriented that they’re unable to properly relate to people.

Scenarios Where this Skill Might be Useful:

• in a conflict where a game or contest must be won 
• in a life or death scenario where one must outwit one’s opponent
• when there is a problem to be solved with no recognizable solution…

TIP: Choose a talent or skill that makes your character memorable and helps them achieve their goals.

If this is something you’d like to learn more about, you might find these resources helpful. You can also see the full collection of talent and skill entries in their entirety at One Stop For Writers, where all our thesauruses are cross-referenced and linked for easy navigation. If you’re interested in seeing a free sampling of the Talent and Skill Thesaurus and our other descriptive collections, head on over and register at One Stop!