Premortem - try to anticipate what could go wrong
Summary
- Trying to think of what could go wrong allows us to prepare (even if it is at least mentally) for it, and when it happens we are unlikely to be shocked.
Details
- The stoics had a name for it: premeditatio malorum (premeditation of evils). They would review plans and think of what could go wrong.
- Seneca: “Nothing happens to the wise man against his expectation, . . . nor do all things turn out for him as he wished but as he reckoned—and above all he reckoned that something could block his plans.”