The OODA loop is a decision-making framework developed by military strategist John Boyd. It stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act.
Observe
The first step, gather information from your environment. Whether that’s physical or related to a problem you are having. You have to start by gathering all the information you can.
Orient
Analyse it. Mentally process all the information and position yourself in the context of the information. How does it affect you? What implications does X, Y and Z have on you? What happens if X does Y to Z?
Decide
Now you know what’s happening, it’s time to pick a course of action based on the analysis. Weigh the options up. Option A is better than option B. So you pick option A.
Act
Then finally implement your choice of action. Act out on it, its the best option you have right now, so you might as well execute it to the best of your ability.
Iterate
This is where the magic happens, you want to be repeating this cycle as fast as possible. When you receive new information you want to observe it on the next cycle. You should be able to complete this whole cycle in 5 seconds. You should aim to observe then instantly orient, then make a quick decision and act on it. The faster you iterate the more you can achieve.