PRE-MORTEM
The Domino effect may be defined as a series of simultaneous events with a similar outcome. We are often trapped in the imagination of negative outcomes followed by dependency on luck for any kind of day-to-day task. The biggest reason for defending ourselves post outcome is that when we are under stress, we often work without rational or logical thinking and this is natural human psychology. Very few people admit mistakes and very rare people re-iterate that they will refrain from doing the same mistake again and the rarest of rare people actually don’t perform the same mistake. The serious aspirants prefer to do a pre-mortem instead of a post-mortem.
The Pre-mortem is defined as assumptions of all negative outcomes before even starting the task and correcting potential errors even before the commencement of the project. This principle may be applied by us while dealing with any stressful situation or anxiety before commencing the actual task.
There was a guy named XYZ who was preparing for a much-awaited presentation in front of his MD and thousands of representatives. He worked so hard that there was no chance of failed attempt. This presentation was the most important presentation of his life till now. He wanted to surprise all his colleagues. When he arrived at his destination, he made himself comfortable and practiced postures for about half an hour. However, just before 5 minutes of starting the presentation, he got to know that his car keys are lost and his laptop and mobile phone is kept. His car keys were inside the car only. Unfortunately, he missed the opportunity and the rest is all history. The summary of the above story is we often assume the only positive outcome before any task and regret after failing followed by a post-mortem of that particular event.
The only difference between winners and losers after a certain level of preparation is emotional stability. Hence productivity and efficiency can only be true if the quality of work is considered instead of speed. In order to achieve a higher degree of emotional stability, one must practice pre-mortem as it clears out cloudy thinking at the time of a stressed situation. With the continuous implementation of pre-mortem, one may also lead to diverging from the heartbreak caused due to an unexpected event. Pre-mortem also gives us a sense of reality and keeps us away from false daydreaming. It may sound negative but as suggested by Mr. Peter L Bernstein in his book, “Against The Gods” if there is a 0.00001% of probability of any outcome, the event may occur in reality.
