Working backwards to go forwards - For life and business

Sometimes we have goals in life or work that appear so large or far away that they seem unobtainable or we simply don’t know where to begin. This simple technique I have developed allows you to chart a path from today right up to achieving your goals.

Firstly, name your goal. You need to know exactly what you are aiming for, so be as specific as you can - thinking of a personal example. Rather than choosing to ‘go on holiday’ you might decide to ‘go on holiday to Spain in September/ October’.

Using the same example, ask yourself what the previous direct step to your goal would have to of been to enable you to achieve your aim. In this case in order to be able to ‘Go on Holiday to Spain...’ I would have needed to ‘Book the holiday to Spain and decide when this might have needed to have happened ... by June’ for example.

Thirdly, carry on in the same vein. At this point you might split off into two or more threads.

One thread might be:

In order to have booked the holiday to Spain I would have needed to have:

• Decided which month to go - and I’d have needed to do this by June also.

• In order to have done that I would need to have booked the time off work by the end of May.

• In order to have done that I would need to have researched where about and when the best/ cheapest time to go is.

Once you have reached the end of the thread, make a decision to do something, put a timeframe on it and do it.

• This weekend I shall research holidays to Spain.

Another thread might be:

In order to have booked the holiday to Spain I would have needed to have:

• Paid for the holiday in Spain.

• In order to have done that I would need to have the money to pay for it.

• In order to do that I would have needed to start saving to be able to go.

• In order to do that I would have needed to do some overtime.

• In order to do that I would have needed to ask mum if she can look after the kids for a few extra hours a week at the same time as asking what overtime possibilities there are at work at the moment.

From here we now have three action points starting in the next few days:

• Research holidays to Spain at the weekend.

• Enquire about overtime possibilities when next in work.

• Ask mum if she can look after the kids for a few hours per week.

This technique is every bit as applicable to business goals as personal goals. You need to ensure that you put dates on the action points and have a through line of points from the end to the beginning, make a decision and do them.

All of a sudden you have an active plan to get you from where you are now to actually achieving your goals.

If you’d like more advice on how to organise your thoughts to enable you to achieve your aims, booking a session with a life coach can really help you get things in order and kick start your path to reaching your goals.