JS Tip 552: Backwards Planning

This is a simple idea, and you may be using it already (consciously or unconsciously). 

Four steps: 

Step One: Identify an end point. A deadline. For example, the time the meeting starts.

Step Two: Identify the small steps you need to take to be at the meeting. Identify the time each step will take and build in a safety factor.

Step Three: Work backwards to identify the start time: 

The meeting starts: 10:00 a.m.
Be in the meeting room: 9:55 a.m.
Leave the office: 9:45 a.m.
Develop a list of questions and comments: 9:15 a.m.
Review the meeting agenda: 8:55 a.m.

Step Four: Reconfigure the list:

8:55 a.m.: Review the meeting agenda.
9:15 a.m.: Develop a list of questions and comments.
9:45 a.m.: Leave the office.
9:55 a.m.: Be in the meeting room.
10:00 a.m.: The meeting starts.

Now you have a timetable. If you finish a task early, use the extra time to do extra tasks:

Make some follow-up phone calls.
Write a thank-you note to your sixth-grade teacher.
Read three pages of an interesting book.
Get caught up.

The idea is simple, but many people never use it.

And they’re perpetually late.

And you know who they are.

Ugh.