“Smart people learn form their mistakes, wise people learn with other people’s mistakes” - Saying.
There is a well known technique called The “Post-Mortem Technique” and it's used mainly in the business world.
It basically consists in an analyses after the fact. After a company lunches a product and it’s sold, a bunch of people get together and they analyse all the aspects of it. What went wrong, who bought it and very other aspect. The point is to learn from that products mistakes.
However, today we shall look at another technique, that can be extremely useful and can not only be used in your business but also on every aspect of your life.
The “Pre-Mortem Technique” can be described as the opposite of the Post-Mortem. The point is to try to learn from your mistakes, before you start. It can truly help you in every life project you have.
Let’s have a look at it.
The first thing you need to do, is to sit down. Sit down before you begin a project and then imagine it has failed in a colossal manner. Let it sink into you… the worst case scenario. Then you take a piece of paper and spent some time, writhing down all the possible worst scenarios. And let it sink.
After that comes a crucial step.
Imagine all possible causes of failure. You must be realistic and visionary! (Some people think it’s a contradiction but it’s not really and here you must be both) Use logic, imagine external and internal causes. Make sure you include detailed and realistic internal causes of potential failure.
Most people fail due to internal conditions… their own psychology is usually the main cause of disappointment, rather than external factors. Yet, we tend to blame the outside world and overlook our own inner workings. This is why it’s crucial that you are honest, realistic and detailed. If you’re having a hard time, "judging" you’re future behaviour, a good place to start is your past behaviour. Look into your life and how you reacted in past situations and use that as a starting guide line.
Congratulation... you have the causes of failure laid down. Now, you’re gonna prioritise you’re list. Get the top 3 or top 5 more likely situations to accord. Again, realistic and visionary.
Once you have your list in order, you’re going to brainstorm solutions to those top 5 scenarios. (Again, in a realistic and visionary fashion heheh)
Now you have solutions for the problems you might face… go back and think about it again. Study your past and try to envision the future. Look for Internal and external factors, once again.
That’s it.
I believe this technique can help tremendously anyone who uses it, in any aspect of life.
You can use it for your career, to know if you should quite your job, for a relationship, for your next year or next month, for your life mission… For anything.
It can look simple, but how many people do it?...
Hope this was useful.
As always, thank you for reading.
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