Begin with the end in mind
The one tactic that will have you owning your planning process
The meeting kicked off with a cacophony of topics from which to start. Then order was brought to being with the utterance “Let’s begin with the end in mind. Who do we want to be in 12 or 24 months? Let’s figure that out and then work backwards.”
Habit #2 of Stephen Covey’s famous “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Begin with The End in Mind, is the most useful tactic in approaching a problem.
The subject could be something as small as a marketing campaign or as large as your life’s legacy, beginning with the end in mind is always a good place to start.
“if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there” -Lewis Carroll
Here’s how you can implement beginning with the end in mind:
Visualise your ideal end state. This could be anything from what a “finished” product looks like, to what your career looks like at some point in the future. Be decisive in articulating what you really want. Oftentimes our vision lacks boldness because we fear failure or what others will think. Fight the fear.
Think of the end point as a destination on a road trip. Now ideate some milestones along the drive. Where do you want to be in 12 months? 6 months? 3 months? What should be prioritized now to reach your milestones? Start with the end and work backwards.
Build your process to hit your milestones. Maybe you need a quick check-in every week to ensure you’re on track. Implement a tracking system to identify if you’re ahead, behind, or on target. This system can be used with any tactics you are executing. For instance, I have a daily to-do system that keeps me accountable for certain habits I want to build.
It’s no coincidence that “Working Backwards” is the title of the seminal book describing Amazon’s work process. They know how powerful working backwards can be and have used it to achieve enormous success.
So in your next planning meeting, kick it off with the words ‘let’s begin with the end in mind’ and watch your colleagues snap to action with clarity and focus.