Backward Planning is not just for Military People

For those of us whose spouses are in the military, have you ever heard your hubby say he had to backwards plan something? Did you know what that meant when he said it? Some of us already do this to an extent, but let me tell you exactly what it is and how it can make your life so much more efficient and stress free!

As you have probably already guessed, a military operation has to be planned out and then synchronized. You can't go to war if Beetle Bailey didn't arrive with the truckload of bullets and actually arrived before the war started. Along those same lines, you would not leave the house without the diapers for the baby and a plan to get you where you are going on time and with your sanity intact.

Let's say that "hit time" for you is tomorrow morning. You are going to take your whole brood on a trip to the National Park nearby. You are going to now backwards plan the trip:

• What time does the park open or what time do you want to be there? You say 9 am.
  

• You know it takes you two hours to drive there, that means you should leave the house at 7 am

• You don't go anywhere without your hair done and the kids fed and dressed. Since that takes you an hour, you set wake-up time at 5 am (ouch)

• Since the kids need 9 hours of sleep, you realize you must put them to bed at 8 pm

• That means the bedtime routine of bath and stories must begin at 7 pm

I think you get the idea! If you have to be somewhere at a certain time, backwards plan from the time you have to be there to figure out how long you need from start to finish. Make your little checklist as you plan and briefly look over it before you actually head out the door. It's amazing how you can forget a package of babywipes and still have everything else with you...you REALLY need those babywipes....

Follow these steps and you'll never rush or forget something again!.