Wait for something to happen before applying a fix. Sometimes it’s too late. Often, it takes more time and effort to fix a flawed design or poor execution.
Is there another way?
Is it possible to avoid foreseeable mistakes by conducting a pre-mortem?
Play a game. Pretend that a decision was made to implement X. Instead of asking, ‘what could go wrong?’. Imagine we’re already one year post the change. Imagine that tomorrow is today. Ask, ‘what went wrong?’ Look inside the rear-view mirror. What do you see?
Now, bring yourself back to the present. Right here, right now. What do you change? What can you do better now? What must you do more of? What must you stop doing? Most of us don’t take the time to do this because what’s the worst that could happen? I’ll get to it tomorrow. I’ll get to it eventually. But we forget. We run out of time. Other urgent and unimportant things take up our finite time.
What if we used the pre-mortem method to live our best lives? If we were the author of our own obituary, would we lead a life full of meaning and intention? What would it say? Where would it be published? Does it include children? Are you married? How are you survived? How would you be remembered? Did you do everything you set out to do? Did you change the hearts and minds of the people you care about? Did you write that book you’ve been putting off? Did you break stuff? Does anyone care?
How do you feel about reading your obituary? Are you content? Are you disappointed? Are you angry? Are you sad? Any regrets?
Looking forward into our future, as if we’re at the end of our life… would it make it easier for us to prioritize and make difficult decisions? Would the future you appreciate the actions and decisions of the today?