Is thinking technique used in Strategy design, Planning, Goal Setting , Goal Achieving and Problem Solving.
Basically you imagine yourself achieving your goal in the future and then figure out how to get from there to your current position..
It is kind of the opposite of Forward Thinking, although they might be used together and compare which one gives you the best results.
Premises
- you might be familiar the fishing maze like game for kids where you're asked to find the which fish the fisherman caught.
- you'll likely get different duration and routes if you start from the fisherman to the fish than if you were to start from the fish to the fisherman;
- the starting point of your thinking is likely to influences the strategy / plan you come up with;
- how you approach and look at at situation is also determined by the departure point of your thinking;
Steps - How to Use it?
Step-1: Define the Future State.
What is your Goal ?
What does success looks like in this situation?
What is your Desired Result?
What do you Want?
What would this problem look like after it's solved?
What are you after?
What are Opportunities in this context?
Step-2: Assume you have achieved Success and Ask
If I were to retrace my steps how do I connect the Success to the Present State?
What would be the backwards intermediate steps from There to Here?
What was required for the Success to happen?
What had to be in place before the Success to happen?
What have I done just before achieving Success?
What have I Changed about myself just before achieving Success?
What have I done more of / less just before achieving Success?
Step-3
Ask the previous questions for each previous steps before Success until you build a sequence of steps from There to Now?
What is T-1 step?
What is T-2 step?
What is T-.... step?
Step-4:
Think about how to implement the steps you came up with.
When to Use it?
Whenever you have a clear Idea of what is it that you want. But interestingly and arguably would be even more beneficial to use when you are unclear / unsure of what you want because it might help you to sort out the Goals that are actually worth pursuing.
What to Expect?
You can expect to come up with a different , more efficient strategy than by using your traditional way of thinking
Related
Forward Thinking
