If you go to Google or YouTube (I know it’s the same company, but akin to a wedded couple, each person is separate even though they share the same family name … wow, that just got needlessly deep) and look for talks or recipes on how to “achieve your dreams”, you would fall on an abundance of methodologies and speeches to inspire you to get to point B (the life you want) from point A (the life you imagined). Though, I have yet to find a recipe that encompasses it all, because let’s face it, each dream is particular.

The answer to this dilemma that has baffled at least thousands of milli-people (which means just me), is this article. Because, just like the renovation videos you watch on YouTube, I have done so many re-decorations inside the attic I call my brain, and the results have always been good.

Before we get to it, let’s define the term “Reverse Engineering”. It is the process by which you look at a finished working product and disassemble it back into its original components to be able to create something very similar.

The key word in this definition, is the word “similar”. It is never going to be exact, and the sooner you make peace with that thought, the easier and more agile you are going to be in your method. 

Our brains, for the most part, are designed to be hyper-optimistic when it comes to designing anything: From complex things like business endeavors down to simple tasks like “What time should I leave my house to get there on time?”. We tend to always play the odds in our favor, and we are very conservative when it comes to embedding the “black swan effect” into our design. This is why we are late most of the time, and why, when our business fails, it takes a huge toll on us, despite knowing that the worst-case scenario has the same possibility of occurring as the best-case scenario.

Thus, the brilliance of reverse engineering. When you look at the desired final result and start working backwards, you are automatically accounting for all of the potential failures by finding the right individual components that work in your favor and rapidly (very relative term in this case) discarding those that don’t. And this is in majority, due to the fact that you know the desired end product, so you are able to assess components immediately and measure their performance against the desired result.

Your method should also account for the fact that each component might require some reverse engineering as well. Keeping the desired end result in sight will allow you to correctly assess how far you should dive into breaking down each facet, where to stop, and when the component is ready for installation.

The final step is to put all of these components together and see if they work in harmony. If not, you should have the courage to go back and look at each piece of the puzzle and determine if it needs repair, optimization or a complete re-design. Once you understand that nothing will ever live up to the default “best design” you create in your head, you will be able to start admiring the product at hand, even if it only achieves 50% of the criteria it was built for. Because, and as always, a working 50% model is a hundred times better than a 100% desired model that simply does not work. 

Your working model will be the basic minimum starting point or launching pad that will put you on your road to that best-case scenario model. Consider it a “respawn point” inside a video game.

So, whether it is a career change that you’re seeking, a business idea or even a personal desire you are working on, remember the following: design it, reverse engineer it, dissect it, study the parts, assemble them together and troubleshoot the whole system.

And if often, you find yourself stuck and not getting anywhere new, remember… a full working model is often a small cog in a much bigger machine. Nothing is too big; everything is a piece. Accept that, and move on to the next thing.

George Tarabay is a marketing expert/ Filmmaker/ comedian/Podcaster. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, SoundCloud @GeorgeTarabay.  

Photo by Vadim Sherbakov on Unsplash.