Envision-the-Ending Goal Discovery
Surface hidden goals by vividly imagining the finished future first, then reverse-engineering the journey to it.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 87%
For people who can't articulate what they want, Lichaw starts at the end. You pick a horizon (a quarter to decades out), close your eyes, and imagine you're already there with every sense engaged — what you see, hear, smell, feel, and what you've accomplished. If the ending excites you, you go back to the beginning and write out how you got there as an experimental roadmap. If no vision comes, you sit with it until it does. A 'give yourself an A' twist borrowed from Benjamin Zander unlocks the imagined ending.
Origin
Donna Lichaw's approach from the mission section of The Leader's Journey; the 'give yourself an A' variant is credited to Benjamin Zander's book The Art of Possibility (spelled 'Benjamin Xander' in the transcript).
Core principles
- 01Start with the ending and work backward — you can't write the journey without knowing the destination.
- 02Engage all the senses so the future is vivid and emotionally real; humans are visual creatures and this is what fuels action.
- 03What you actually create will likely differ from what you imagined — the point is the fuel and direction, not literal accuracy.
- 04If you have no vision, sit with it as long as needed rather than forcing an answer.
- 05Treat the reverse-engineered path as an experimental roadmap: identify the first thing to learn, then move.
How to run it
- 1
Pick a horizon and imagine you're there
Choose a timeframe — a quarter, a year, three or five years, decades, or several at once — and imagine you've already arrived at the best version of that period.
Pro tip Interviewing others, Lichaw asks: 'imagine it's a few years out and you've had the best years of your life — what would you be telling me?'
- 2
Engage every sense
Close your eyes and fully inhabit the scene: what do you see, hear, smell? Who is there? What do you feel emotionally and physically? What have you accomplished that's amazing?
Pro tip Add Benjamin Zander's twist — 'give yourself an A': if you could grade yourself an A at the end, what would you be writing about how you earned it?
- 3
If nothing comes, sit with it
If you draw a blank ('I have no vision'), don't force it — sit with the exercise for as long as it takes until an ending emerges, then create it.
Watch out Don't fabricate a vision to move on; the ending has to be genuinely yours or the reverse path won't fuel you.
- 4
Reverse-engineer the journey as an experimental roadmap
With an exciting ending, go back to the beginning and write out how you got there. Then ask: what's the first thing I need to learn to know if this is right? Move toward that and onward.
Pro tip Hold the roadmap loosely — what you end up creating will very likely differ from what you imagined; that's expected.
In the wild
Lichaw's favorite interview question is the envision-the-ending prompt. She recounts Lenny's own early-career version: asked where he saw himself in five years at a dot-com job, he answered 'not here, and hopefully making documentary films.' His future boss loved the honesty so much he hired Lenny on the spot — and they're still friends decades later.
→ The vivid, honest ending revealed alignment and became a hiring signal; it shows the prompt surfacing a real vision.
Common mistakes
Trying to plan the path before you have an ending
You cannot write the journey without the destination; skipping straight to steps produces a plan with nothing pulling it forward.
Treating the imagined ending as a literal prediction
Life doesn't work by simply naming what you want and getting it; the vision's job is to fuel and orient you, and reality will diverge.
Is it for you?
Best for
People who feel stuck or 'have no vision' and can't articulate the goals or wishes sitting in their subconscious.
Not ideal for
Anyone who mistakes visualization for manifestation and won't do the reverse-engineering and experimentation work.
From the transcript
“start with the ending come up with how you want things to turn out and then work your work your way back”
“engage all your senses what do you hear what do you smell what do you who what do you see”
“from uh Benjamin Xander in a book called The Art of possibility... give yourself an a if you could give yourself an a at the…”
“you sit with it for as long as you need until you get it and then you create it”
“think of it as an experimental roadmap then start thinking all right what's the first thing I want to need to learn”
From the episode
How to discover your superpowers, own your story, and unlock personal growth
Donna Lichaw (author of The Leader’s Journey)