Stuck with your plan? Try reverse engineering it!

 

It’s the middle of the night; you can’t sleep and this great idea pops in your head. You see the end result, what it’s going to do for you, your family, or your employees, but you can’t seem to formulate a plan. You're stuck trying to figure out what the first step will even be, and you are just completely stuck. Try planning it out in reverse. 

Sometimes when you start with the end in mind and work backwards, you can paint an easier picture. For example, let's say you want to plan an outing, but you need to be back home by 6pm. Well, you may want to figure out where you want to go first. Next, how long will it take you to get there. If it takes 1.5 hours, you know you need to leave no later than 4:30. Let’s say 4:00 to help avoid any unforeseen circumstances. Maybe you want to spend all day out, so you will need to figure out lunch. Say you go with the typical lunch time of 12:00. So, you know you need to be where you can get food or bring food with you. If you are bringing food with you, will you have to keep it cold? If you are having lunch around noon, when should you have breakfast, so you don’t get too hungry too early? Are you going to eat on the go or before you head out for the day? If it takes 1.5 hours to get to where you want, what time do you want to leave to have the most time there? 

I know, this is a simple example, but you can see, by starting with the end in mind, you can start to think about everything else you will need to do to have a successful day. The same approach can be taken with many things in your life. That promotion or raise you want, a new career path, planning a date with a friend or loved one, and so on. If you're stuck trying to create a plan, try working it backwards. It may make it easier for you and help you not miss steps along the way. Hopefully, you won't have to throw away the plan if it goes off the rails!