Reverse Engineer Your Goals

Start with the end and move backwards to the beginning.

At Eat2Live2Love we are goal oriented, focused on the step by step process of getting you to your goals. But we like to do it backwards.

The “Then” Mentality

“Once I lose this weight, then I’ll be happy.”

“After I get this promotion, then I’ll start saving money.”

The “if this, then that” mentality has become a way of life, from our To Do List’s to the AI built into our phones. It’s simple, it helps us stay on track and “keeps us moving forward”. But if that’s true, then why the hell do none of us know what’s going on? We have our big shiny goals just staring us in the face, we know we wanna get there- but how? So we say to ourselves “Okay, Step 1., I need to do this and then Step 2. I need to do that.” and so on. All we can see is the end goal in the distance and 2 feet in front of us, but nothing in between and no road map.

What if I told you to meet me on Mt. Fuku (ya that’s a real mountain), and told you to make a left out of the airport and a right at the stop sign? What would you say? “Uh, I kinda need the rest of the directions to get to the Fuku mountain in China.” Right? You’d want the rest of the directions, or at least a map. The “then” mentality is exactly like that. You know you need to get to your goal, but can’t see the path forward.

Start At The Mountain & Go Backwards

Instead of starting at Step 1 and moving forward, let’s start at the Goal and move backwards. Let’s say I’m super stoked about going hiking to Mt. Fuku, but can’t afford it. The “then” mentality says, “I need to save up money and then….” But let’s use reverse engineering to get me there instead. Let’s start at the mountain and go backwards together to figure my fool proof way to get there.

Step 10. Be at the top of Mt. Fuku

Great. That was easy.

Step 9. Hike up the mountain.

Step 8. Find a Chinese/English Guide

Do you see what we’re doing here? First, we are living in our dreams, not in our fears, by envisioning ourselves at our goal. Secondly, you are having to be creative by reversing your goal setting behaviors. Let’s keep going.

Step 7. Take a Taxi from the airport to the city to find a guide.

Step 6. Get a Taxi from the Airport.

Step 5. Fly to China

Step 4. Book tickets to China

See where this is going? We are no longer dependent on our next two steps, but instead building a road map to our goals.

Step 3. Win the lotto

Step 2. Play the lotto

Step 1. Decide to fund a my Fuku trip with the lottery.

Now let’s read it forwards.

Step 1. Decide to fund my Fuku trip with the lottery.

Step 2. Play the lotto

Step 3. Win the lotto

Step 4. Book tickets to China

Step 5. Fly to China

Step 6. Get a Taxi from airport

Step 7. Take Taxi to city to find a guide.

Step 8. Find a Chinese/English guide

Step 9. Hike up the mountain

Step 10. Be at the top of Mt. Fuku

Dream forward, Plan Backwards

Reverse engineering your goals puts you in the power seat. It allows you to think about being at the top and how to get there, versus being at the bottom and having no idea what the next step is to the top. It forces you to see yourself succeeding, and imagining how you got there. That’s living in your dreams friends; and reverse engineering is how we make it into a reality.

Challenge Accepted

Today, reverse engineer one small goal in your life. Start at the end, and work your way back to the beginning. You’ll be planning in the forward. You’ll lose the “then” mentality, and when put into practice- is a road map for your success; or a road map to Mt. Fuku- either way, you’ll get there.

It All Starts With An Idea

Good ideas are common – what’s uncommon are people who’ll work hard enough to bring them about.-Ashleigh Brilliant 

Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.- Howard Aiken

Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one’s ideas, to take a calculated risk – and to act.- Andre Malraux

New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can’t be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it’s not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!-Arthur C. Clarke

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.-John F. Kennedy

Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference.-Nolan Bushnell

Ideas Are The Most Valuable Currency You Have

Stop Reading & Come Up With 3 Ideas———--

Did you stop reading? No, probably not. So stop reading and come up with any 3 random ideas. I’ll wait.

Oh-Oh- did you hit a snag thinking about whether you could achieve these ideas or not? Let’s be clear here, I’m talking about ideas; you’re thinking about whether yours can be achieved. Am I right? “Oh that’s a good idea but I can’t do that!” But whether they can be achieved or not, is irrelevant to the practice of creating ideas.

Most of us have forgotten how to dream, and instead learned how to blend into the reality that exists.

No child ever says, “One day, when I grow up, I’ll go to a 2-yr college and get a desk job for 12 years, have 2.5 kids and a divorce in my 40s. Maybe I’ll work at a mediocre job for the rest of my life where no one knows who I am, or bounce around from career to career. Then retire or die.”

But that is the life story of so many. What happened to your dreams of wanting to help people? What about the idea to travel? What about your idea of that invention; aren’t you tired of saying, “That was my idea!”?

I love my job for many reasons, the first and foremost is that I can be who it is that I am. Too often I meet folks who are trapped by their dogma. I’ve been in rooms filled with corporate elites, all perfectly groomed, their skin tight, suits pressed and watches that screamed “MONEY!”. The very air around them says “I’m the boss”, and you suddenly feel underdressed and about 2 feet shorter.

But how sad it must be to play someone else all day, all week, all year; to wear the same suit, the same phony smile and underneath wish you could break through.

When I see a mass group of “Very Important People”, I always just wonder what they really must be like underneath the grander. Surely they spill their peas, lose their keys and forget to set their clock alarms. Their dogs probably pee on the carpet, I’m sure they bang their hips into counters and feel shy on a date. I’m also pretty sure that these folks have dreams and ideas; but many will take those right to graveyard with them, unspoken, unsung, undone. I see their faces, smiling, but their eyes tell me they are exhausted.

Ideas Are Scary

Ideas are scary for many reasons, but usually because we feel inferior to them, don’t believe it’s possible, or don’t know what the next step is in turning that idea into reality. Maybe you’re too embarrassed about your ideas, maybe you have no one to even talk to about them; or maybe you think you have none. But if you put your right hand over your heart, (do it… I’m waiting..) you will feel a light soft thud-thud-thud, thud-thud-thud. Your heart is your proof of purpose, and helping you fulfill that purpose means creating ideas. Even if they aren’t possible, even if it’s as big as “I want to build a UFO” or as small as “I want to plant a garden”. But we need to dream, we need to have ideas; we need hope, and if we are ever going to live in our purpose, we have to start realizing that it’s possible for you to have your dream.

Challenge Accepted

Create 10 Ideas. Any Ideas. And Write Them Down.

After you’ve created 10 ideas, send them to your MyCoach (link below). We want you to stop thinking, and start making it real, even if just with pen and paper; that’s a step towards your journey. None of these ideas need to be doable, achievable or real. But they need to be yours.

“I want to move to Hawaii” isn’t an idea. It’s a destination. “Move to Hawaii and learn to become a surfer.” is an idea.

“Invent a time machine” is a great idea, even though you probably can’t do it. The point is, come up with some ideas that aren’t associated with achievability.

Every really new idea looks crazy at first.-Alfred North Whitehead

Capital isn’t that important in business. Experience isn’t that important. You can get both of these things. What is important is ideas.-Harvey S. Firestone

If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.-Albert Einstein

It is a lesson which all history teaches wise men, to put trust in ideas, and not in circumstances.-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Need more motivation? ReadIdeas Are Scary in The Eat2Live Blog now…it’s not as scary as your ideas are! Don’t forget to send your 10 ideas to your MyCoach!

The Do It Later Pile

If you’re like me, then you have dozens and dozens of conversations in Messenger. Moreover, most of us have even more text history on our phones. As a nation, America sends about 6 billion SMS messages a day, that’s into the trillions per year. That’s a whole lot of texting (and usually about nothing anyway). Add to these figures our social media communications, and you’d think that’s all any of us did in a given day. Millions of messages, pings, alerts, and texts are being sent right now, as you are reading this.

So yes, in reality, we aren’t going reply to each one allthe time, because we’re “busy”; but we all know that’s not entirely true. You know and I know, that sometimes we simply choose to ignore someone because they bore us, annoy us, or make us mad.

Whatever the reason, we let them sit in that state of purgatory in our messages. Some people even avoid Messenger altogether to avoid just one person who’s trying to contact them. Some people open every email, but never reply. Some people lie and say they did, just to appease another. But what purpose does this serve? Are we being honest with ourselves or with others?

Prior to technology, we wouldn’t just randomly walk away from a conversation; so why are we doing it now? Convenience? Do we hold ourselves to a lower standard now, or do we sincerely just feel run so thin that we can’t reply? So we let them sit in our inboxes, in our mail pile, in our Messenger, Snapchat, and others in that purgatory of things we will “do later”.

What about that one person you need to contact, but can’t, out of fear. What if they reject me? What if I sound stupid? All valid concerns, and as you’re reading this thinking, “this totally doesn’t apply to me”, let me assure you it does.

What about sweet Aunt Josephine who’s sent you a box of cookies every Christmas your entire life?

What about that ailing family member you’re avoiding? Avoiding the pain of engagement doesn’t dissolve the pain, and you running from it because it hurts too much, will produce nothing but regret later in life.

In 2015, 2,626,418 people died in the United States.

Assuming that each deceased person had 2 people that loved them, that’s 5,252,836 people that lost something. They either lost the ones that they loved, or lost their lives, and there’s a good chance that you or someone you know were a part of that statistic in 2015. If not, you will be a part of it one day, if you’re lucky enough to live long enough.

Today however, this moment is still yours.

It is still full of opportunity to live through the pain, so you don’t have to live through the regret later. Today, you can make the choice to hand-write a letter and mail it to your elderly grandparent. You can still email your cousin and thank them for the birthday wishes.

And I hear you thinking, “Ya, but it’s been like 2 years; it’d almost be weird now.”

Then let it be weird. Punishing yourself by hiding from them is punishing them, too. If you want to punish yourself for being rude, then buck up and do the right thing. (but it’s not really a punishment) Make that call. Send that email. Write that card. By doing so, you’ve taken regret off the table, and now, you get to be positively excited about their reply….unless they haven’t read this article and don’t respond….

Challenge Accepted

Return an old email or message without giving any of the following excuses:

“I’m sorry I’ve been busy”

“I forgot”

“I didn’t get your last text/call/email”

Just say you’re sorry. That’s all that needs to be said, “hey, look, I’m sorry I didn’t text you back 2 1/2 years ago”

(I hear you laughing at me in the peanut gallery but you know it’s true)

What do you think their reply will be? Will they be infuriated that you dare contact them? Quite the contrary, they will know that you were still thinking about them 2 and 1/2 years later; and that makes you freaking amazing.