Right To Left Thinking — by Dan Lynn
By Dan Lynn
When people tell me about their goals, my first question is always the same: "Great — what exactly do you want to do, and when do you want to do it by?"
Here's what I've found: if you have a reasonable goal and you pick a real date, you can usually make it happen. From there it's just work — figuring out everything that has to get done, by when, and who's going to do it. You start at the end and move backward to today. I call it right-to-left thinking.
I'm not the only one. Stephen Covey made it Habit 2 of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — "Begin with the End in Mind." Amazon built a whole methodology around it called "working backwards": before they build a product, they write the press release for the finished thing first, then reverse-engineer everything needed to make it real. Same instinct, different words.
What surprises me is how many smart people skip it. I meet business owners who can't tell me where they want to be in 12 to 24 months, and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to "start a business" but can't say what kind — or by when. Unless you know where you're going, you can't figure out how to get there.
So start with the end. Get specific about the destination and the date — then work right to left.
Questions this Key Learning answers
How do I turn a vague goal into a practical plan?
The author starts by defining exactly what the finished outcome looks like and choosing a real completion date. From there, work backward to identify everything that must happen, in what order, by when, and who will do it. As Dan Lynn puts it, “Start with the end” and move right to left.
Should I set a deadline before I know every step?
Yes, when the goal and date are reasonable. The author’s approach begins with the destination and deadline, then reverse-engineers the required work. Our analysis adds that a real date creates intermediate commitments and reveals whether the timeline, resources, and scope can coexist before tasks are assigned or money is spent.
What do you do when a project has too many moving parts?
Our analysis recommends picturing the completed outcome and tracing the required steps backward. This exposes dependencies: some work cannot begin until earlier work is finished. Once that sequence is visible, the critical steps can receive dates and owners, making priorities clearer and turning a complex ambition into a workable chain of decisions.