Backwards Thinking or Thinking Backwards

Ever get stuck on how to figure out something? Ever feel lost in mid-pursuit? Whether you're thinking of the next big business idea, planning an event, or trying to find new ways to grow your career, try thinking backwards.

Here Try This: Feelings of aimlessness or lost typically comes from not having a well defined goal. Let's take a lesson from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Dodgson:



Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to
Alice: I don't much care where.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.


Everything starts with knowing where you want to be or what you want to achieve in the end. If you're stuck on something, ask yourself "what is the ideal end result of what I'm doing?" You would then follow-up with repeatedly asking yourself "in order to get to my ideal end result, what do I have to do to achieve it?"

Let's say, for example, you have your heart set on becoming a concert pianist. The next question would be, in order to become a concert pianist, what do I have to do to achieve it? Your response may be "I'll need to understand how to book my own concert, I'll need to be competent in public performance, etc." Then you'll ask, in order to book my own concert, "I'll need to find an agent who understands availability of venues and can get a big crowd to attend," and to perform competently in public "I'll need to find out how much time other concert pianist commit to practicing each day and with what aids (tutors, mentors, equipments)." Your repeated questioning will eventually leave you with a shopping list of things which can be represented by a tree-diagram.

Laying out your thoughts backwards from the end goal allows you to have a sturdy going-forward plan to walk on. It may be overwhelming to realize there's actually a lot of things you now have to do that you didn't think you had before. Next comes prioritization, organization, and execution; topics for another day.