REVERSE INVENTORY TECHNIQUE™: Where was I five years ago?
“It’s easier to know where you’re going if you know where you’re coming from.” Anonymous
One of the most common questions often asked by would-be employers or personal development experts is 'Where do you see yourself in five to ten years’ time?' This is done in order to draw out a candidate's sense of vision and personal ambition. I’m all for that and I have done it a number of times. The first time I seriously put together a personal development plan was when I was working with my very first career mentor, the current Chief Executive of the international charity called Restless Development, Nik Hartley. He guided me into writing down where I wanted to see myself in the next 5 years.
I must confess that much of what I put down that day was really not very reflective of where I exactly wanted to be. I did however walk away from that meeting with that life-long lesson ‘the importance of planning and setting goals.’ In 2010 I decided to do it again this time I was very certain of what I wanted to put down and I knew exactly where I wanted to be in 5 years and so I did that.
Well here’s the interesting part, five years passed and I decided to do a review of my 5 year plan before I could set any further goals. I did an inventory of the goals I set and guess what? Believe it or not, I had achieved nearly 95% of what I had put down on paper and I was exactly where I had planned to be. The Reverse Inventory Technique is what I called it, working 5 years backwards to see where you’re coming from and what exactly you did to get there. You will be surprised at how much you will learn from yourself and what you actually did right or did wrong. That process will give you great incentive for your 5-10 plan. I noticed a pattern of discipline and consistency in some very specific areas where I scored well.
A good way to determine where you’re going is to understand where you’re coming from and learning what you did right and what you did wrong. Arm yourself with the valuable lessons of your personal history and then soldier on into your future with a determination to do something better and different. MOVE