The only way to be happy and successful 5 to 10 years down the road, or by the end of your life, is to make a plan and hold yourself accountable, says billionaire Panera Bread co-founder Ron Shaich. And he believes it's never too early to start.

"Too often we don't even consider what it is we're trying to create and what we respect," Shaich says. "What are you going to respect about yourself at that point [in the future]? Now is the time to be asking that question. Not when it's too late."

Shaich dedicates a day or two each year to writing what is called a "pre-mortem": A list of goals he wants to accomplish over the next few years, spanning his business career, personal life, physical and spiritual health, he says.

He then maps out exactly what he'll need to do to reach those goals — like exercising more often so he could eventually run a 10K, or seeking out more spiritual connection by studying Judaism, he says.

Shaich, 71, who sold Panera for $7.5 billion in 2017 and is now chairman of restaurant chains like Cava and Tatte, wrote about this strategy in his 2023 memoir, titled "Know What Matters." Shaich's net worth was most recently estimated at $1.6 billion by Bloomberg.

If you're in your 20s, he recommends thinking about what you'll want in a few years, or a decade into the future, and working backwards from there. That way, he says, you can get a head start on the life and career changes that will make you happier, healthier and more successful in the long run. 

Set long-term goals based on what matters to you

Shaich himself only started this practice at age 59, after both of his parents died. He now recommends it to his 26-year-old son and anyone else in the earlier stages of their lives.

"[My son's] got to be asking: What's going to matter to him in 5 or 10 years?" Shaich says. "Where do you want to end up with your work? Are you trying to maximize [your] income? Are you maximizing satisfaction? Are you maximizing impact?"

The same line of thinking applies to family decisions, your personal life, and your physical health, says Shaich. Do you want to get married and have kids? Do you want a closer relationship with your parents?

"What do you want to be doing with your community? What do you want to be doing with your spirituality? What is the stuff that actually, when you step back, matters?" he says. "Now, you've got to imagine where you want to be, how these interrelate, and then you've got to turn them into initiatives, and ultimately, projects."

From there, accountability is essential, Shaich says. He regularly refers back to his own list of goals every three months to check his progress, and makes adjustments accordingly.

If you're not making as much progress toward your goals as you imagined, you might need to adjust your approach, he adds. That could mean carving out more time to work on a new side hustle or stepping up your workout regimen. 

"You need to hold yourself accountable," Shaich says. "It isn't enough to write it [down]. You've got to sit down [and], in a clear way, say, 'This is how I'm getting there.'"

Don't just react to what happens: 'That's how you can get in trouble'

Shaich's approach is inspired by the work of psychologist Gary Klein, who coined the term "pre-mortem" as a technique for visualizing a future where you did not achieve your biggest goals, and then working backwards to determine what might have gone wrong and how to avoid those pitfalls in real life. 

Shaich put his own spin on that philosophy with more of a focus on "backward planning." His strategy calls for starting with what you want to achieve and working backwards to map out exactly how to get there. This proactive technique is more effective than simply making plans as you go along in the hopes you'll end up somewhere good, according to a 2017 study published in the academic journal Psychological Science.

Leadership expert and Harvard Business School graduate Stephen Covey, the late-author of best-selling self-help book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," champions a similar strategy. One of Covey's recommended habits is "begin with the end in mind," with the idea being that it's better to live "by design rather than default," he wrote.

Life is unpredictable, Shaich acknowledges: "I don't think you can plan everything out."

Still, "I also don't think you can go into life or a career or anything with just reacting to the environment," he says. "That's how you can get in trouble. It's like pressing the accelerator and not holding on to the steering wheel."

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