A common term in the world of technology is “reverse engineer”. What it means in simple terms is the process of “unbuilding” something to study how it was put together in the first place.
For instance, if you were to reverse engineer a radio, you would start by taking a model of a radio that you admired or were curious about and begin taking it apart. You would note the architecture and design of the insides as you dismantled it, until you were left with only parts. By reverse engineering the radio you would discover the necessary components, the order the components would need to be put together, and the most effective method for doing so. And once finished, you’ve eliminated a great amount of experimental time that went into making that radio, while still learning all that you need to know.
From there you would be well on your way to building your own radio, while also being able to incorporate improvements on the reverse engineered model. Through this method enormous amounts of time and sweat is saved, as each new model is simply an improved prototype of previous models.
Very few things are created entirely on their own anymore. Cars are designed based on previous models, and so are air conditioners, computers, stereos, and houses. There is a reason why it’s done this way. Because it works. There is no good reason that the same mistakes should be made twice. Once is a learning experience, twice is a waste of time.
When you think of it logically reverse engineering makes perfect sense. Reproduce the successful parts, discard the unsuccessful ones. Think where the world would be today, especially in the technology industry if reverse engineering didn’t take place. Everybody who produces anything would have to learn all on their own, and the process would be extremely slow and tedious. Instead, reverse engineers model after successful products and they experience fast and efficient results.
Now what if we were to take that same philosophy and apply it to our goals? What if we reverse engineered our life? It’s not impossible. In fact, I recommend it. In a way we already do so when we establish our goals and make lists of things we want to achieve or accomplish. But often times the process ends there. We decide where we’d like to be and the things we’d like to do, which are both on the right track, but don’t think about how we are going to get there. It’s very easy to say you want to make $100,000 a year, but do you know how you’re going to do that? There are three steps to reverse engineering your goals, which essentially creates a plan for your life.
1. Clearly define and then state your goals.
So often our goals are vague. This is often due to lack of clear definition, when a person knows what they want but hasn’t taken the time to lay them out in detail. A clearly defined goal should list all factors as specifically as possible. The details are where the payout is. For instance, consider the following examples:
I want to be rich and have a nice house.
Within five years, I want to obtain the job of President at XYZ Company, earning $125,000 per year and own a 4,000 square foot home with 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, and an in-ground pool.
Although they both say essentially the same thing, it’s obvious that the second goal is the more detailed of the two. And with the detail comes a specific mark to be reached. The vagueness of the first goal (What amount of money is considered “rich”? A nice house in whose opinion?), leaves too much to chance. For some people $30,000 is rich. So instead, decide what those desires are specifically and list them in detail.
The most beneficial part of listing detailed goals is of course the guidance of knowing specifically what you want. However, a very important side effect of this procedure is the measuring stick it provides. You know that if you were making $60k three years ago and now you’re making $110k, you’re most definitely on the right track to realizing your goal. Does that mean that when you review your goal you’re disappointed that you’re still $15,000 below where you want to be? It shouldn’t. Instead, it should serve as an indicator that you’re getting closer and closer to realizing your goals. And from there you can benefit from the contagious element of success.
Imagine if you used the first goal, the unspecific one. How would you ever know that you had achieved it? After all, you can always be more rich, and you could always have a nicer house. If you were to use that goal, you would never benefit from the satisfaction of knowing you accomplished your goal. And you wouldn’t be able to build off of that success to further accomplish more goals. But if you use the second, detailed goal, you’ll find yourself reaching and hopefully surpassing it. And from their your confidence will increase and you’ll be on your way to reaching newer and greater goals. The incremental progress is a milestone method, that reinforces positive behaviors and alerts you to negative behaviors. Think of it as a radar that consistently helps keep you on track.
The benefits of setting a timetable to achieve your goal is helpful in maintaining focus, though careful thought should go into making this part as realistic as possible. It’s OK to dream big, but setting unrealistic timetables for those lofty goals only sets you up for disappointment. Keep the big plans, but allow yourself a reasonable amount of time to reach them.
2. Lay out the steps of achievement.
You’ve decided that you want to be making $125k as President of XYZ Company and you’d like to do so within five years. Based on what I said above about keeping realistic time-frames, we’ll assume that such advancement is possible within XYZ. So now the question becomes what do you need to do to get there?
For the purposes of this example, let’s say you’re an entry level sales associate. How do you go from where you are now, to president of the company? Trying to figure out your next step can be somewhat confusing. But if you begin with the end in mind, navigating a path becomes a heck of a lot easier. And this is where reverse engineering comes into play. Instead of guessing at the next best move and risking taking the long way, we start at the end and backtrack our way to where you are now.
So you ask yourself, what logical position would I need to have in order to be promoted to president? Most likely that position would be vice president. So then you say, what logical position would I need to have in order to be promoted to vice president? Maybe that position is regional manager. And then you continue on from there, until you’re left with a list that looks something like this:
president > vice president > regional manager > district manager > sales manager > account manager > senior sales associate > entry level sales associate
Now you have a reverse engineered path from your position as an entry level sales associate to president of the company. Then you would flip it around so it reads chronologically, like this:
entry level sales associate > senior sales associate > account manager > sales manager, etc…
A helpful way to be sure your goal is realistic from a time-frame standpoint is to research, or if information isn’t available, estimate how long it typically takes to make the jump from one step to the next. This way you can feel confident that your timetable is accurate.
3. Start walking.
At this point you’ve listed goals, and you’ve reverse engineered your path to them. All that’s left to do is start walking. By that I mean start taking the necessary steps towards achieving your goals. But be sure to take them in the right direction. Remember, you’re not going to go from entry level sales associate to president and leapfrog all those other steps. It’s simply not realistic. So why would you try to do something that the vice president would do when you should instead be focusing on what the senior sales associates or account managers are doing? (Leapfrogging one step is acceptable, but expecting that you can clear the whole corporate ladder in one leap is setting yourself up for failure.)
That’s not to say you shouldn’t be paying attention to the way the vice president handles himself or the professionalism of the president. But be careful not to overstep your bounds with regard to expressing your opinions or biting off more work than you can chew. Emulation and imitation is good, annoyance and irritation is bad.
From here, you simply ask yourself on a daily basis what it is you need to do to move closer to your next goal. In this case, what would help you move on to senior sales associate? If it isn’t part of your current job, and it won’t help your progress towards becoming president, then you probably shouldn’t be doing it.
Every day needs to be a day in which you make progress towards achieving whatever it is you desire. One helpful way is to draw from your next milestone goal, 3-5 things that you can do on that particular day to advance, educate or improve yourself. And then bust your butt to make sure you complete them. And if you don’t finish them all, don’t worry, just start again on it tomorrow. The key is to be sure that you’re spending your time effectively, by heading in the right direction, in order to achieve your goals as quickly as possible.
Reverse engineering for life
Reverse engineering can be used for anything you do, or any life-long goal that you have. It is visualization, modeling, creating a blueprint, and manifesting all rolled into one. It is the art of creating the life that you desire, seeing it, feeling it, and then dissecting it. It is a method of realizing the most effective and expedient ways of doing things before you waste your time figuring out the ways that don’t work well.
Most importantly, reverse engineering works. Anyone willing to invest some time and thought can benefit from the effects of starting with their goals and working their way backwards. In order to get where you’re going you have to know the way. Why not have the directions before you begin the drive?
