How to reverse-engineer your life…
Are you plodding through life with little direction or motivation?
Are you feeling as if your life is going nowhere?
Grab yourself a drink and settle down, I want to talk to you about reverse-engineering your life…
Let’s cut to the chase here. Your purpose in life is to experience life to the fullest. To try and extract every bit of enjoyment out of the experiences you have every single day. But you can’t do that if you don’t have any idea how to do it. When you are stuck in routines and ways of living that don’t allow you to explore or get out of your comfort zones, it can start to feel like you’re on a hamster wheel.
Maybe it’s time to start thinking of your life like a project, something you have a hand in making a success rather than something that is unfolding before your eyes?
I get it. You may be thinking ‘Hang on a minute, I’m no project manager. How the f would I project manage something that I don’t know anything about?’
My first piece of advice, or encouragement, to you is to do a Life Audit. I have a FREE workbook that can help you do just that. Just head to the link to get your copy.
Analyse each area of your life and how you would like it to look. Determine what you want to prioritise in your life. Discover who you need to be in order to work towards the tasks needed to get to the newer version of your life.
Once you have done your audit, you’ll have a clearer idea of where you want to be heading in life. The next step is to set some goals.
Reverse-engineer like a pro…
Whenever I set goals, I like to do what’s known as reverse-engineering. This helps to keep me focused and gives me a clear direction to follow. So rather than trying to do all the things, all at once, I have tasks to follow and evaluate as I go along. I like to give myself wiggle room as it’s important for my motivation. I know some people prefer finite ways in which to proceed, but I believe this leads to feelings of failure and demotivation much more quickly.
What is reverse-engineering?
For those who are not au fait with the term, let me shed some light.
Reverse-engineering is a process that looks at the outcome, end solution or goal in a project. We then work backwards from the end point, until we get to our starting point.
Let’s say you are looking for a new job.
Outcome - Day one of new job
We have to first start exploring what it will take to get us to day one of a new job. We may ask ourselves questions such as:
1. Do I want to keep working in the same industry?
2. Do I want to move to a similar job or look for a job with more responsibility?
3. Am I looking for the next role in my career progression?
4. Do I need to retrain?
The answers to these questions will determine the step or steps before the outcome.
But it doesn’t end there.
This may throw up further questions.
1. Is my CV up-to-date?
2. Who can I reach out to in my network who could help me?
3. What research do I need to do for the companies I want to apply to?
4. Who do I need to contact in order to enquire or apply for the role I want?
5. What resources are there so I can check that roles being advertised match with what I want?
You can see that looking for a new job isn’t as quick and easy as maybe you would like. In fact, it can turn into a job in itself! But don’t let that put you off.
Going through this type of exercise and working your way back from an outcome or goal, will help you specify steps or tasks that are needed in order to get to your outcome or goal. Eventually through working back in this way, answering questions as you go, you will find your start point. And this is something that often pleasantly surprises people.
Many of us do not take action or go for our goals because we believe we are not in the right place, we don’t have enough experience or the skills needed. Applying a bit of reverse-engineering can sometimes show you that you’re much further along, and closer to your goal than you think.
Time is of the essence…
Another thing to consider when you reverse-engineering, is your timeline.
Some questions that you may want to ask yourself as you consider this are:
1. When can I realistically work on this goal?
2. What do I have to, or am I prepared to, sacrifice to work on this goal?
3. When do I want to achieve this by?
Once you have reverse-engineered your project, you may realise that your intended timeline needs a bit of rethinking. Or you could find that you had overestimated the time needed and you will be able to get to your outcome much more quickly.
This is why reverse-engineering is a great way to work on your goals.
I used reverse-engineering to write my first book ‘The Empowered Soul: Guidance & Inspiration To Live A Life You Love’. Before I started work on my second book, I went through the reverse-engineering process again. With measurable targets, deadlines and planned writing time, I’m currently over half-way through my first draft. My plan is to have the first draft completed by 30th November, but I know that I’ll have it done way before that.
If you’ve been feeling stuck in life, rather than getting bogged down with not knowing where to begin, do a life audit. From there you can start to set yourself goals in a practical and motivating way by using reverse-engineering.
If you would like any assistance with doing a life audit, goal setting or reverse-engineering, you can reach out to me by email.
Much love,
Harmesch x