Pre-Mortem
Name what will derail this before you start, not in the postmortem
Before the work begins, list what is most likely to stop it. Then test each item. Is it a real obstacle, or an assumption carried over from the last attempt? The exercise usually sits inside a wider set of questions: where have you been, where are you now, where do you want to be, and what is in the way. Some people draw their answers rather than write them, on the grounds that an image is harder to hide behind than a bullet point. What comes out is a short list of checked obstacles, plus enough buffer to absorb the ones nobody predicted.
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Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Greg McKeownRecommends
Author · Essentialism
Ask what is most likely to stop the thing before it starts, then test whether the obstacle is real or an assumption carried over from last time. He ran the exercise with Navy SEAL leadership by asking commanders to draw their answers rather than write them.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #786 transcript
Aimed at the same thing
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