What is Planning?

Mental time travel for solving problems

Planning is your brain's ability to think ahead, to envision a goal, break it down into steps, and figure out the most efficient path to get there. It's mental time travel combined with strategic sequencing, and it's one of the most sophisticated things the human brain can do.

Source

Koechlin, E., Basso, G., Pietrini, P., Panzer, S., & Grafman, J. (1999). The role of the anterior prefrontal cortex in human cognition. Nature, 399(6732), 148–151.

In real life...

When a task feels overwhelming, try 'backward planning', start from your end goal and work backward step by step. This technique forces you to identify the critical path and often reveals that there are fewer steps than you thought. It's the same approach chess masters use to plan their endgames.

Connected games

Pet Detective

Problem Solving

Pirate Passage

Problem Solving