Backchaining your way to fame and fortune

A spider web is constructed from the outside in. It’s so easy that the spider doesn’t have to think about it. (Image by Sophia Nel)

Recently, I wrote about the Comfort Scale and how it can help you to calibrate your practice to precisely what is needed. Having briefly mentioned backchaining in that context, I wanted to go into more depth on this magical learning strategy.

Have you ever had the experience of driving home “on autopilot,” where you find yourself in your driveway after making a series of turns you were hardly aware of? That’s how backchaining works: Every action automatically suggests the next one with virtually no conscious effort. This ability to “make it look easy” underpins the feats of successful gymnasts, dancers, actors, musicians, orators, and dog agility champions; backchaining is a fast and effective way to reach that high level.

When you’re training an animal, you can’t explain in words what you’d like them to do. You have to show them. Your body operates the same way. When learning something complex, conscious thought is actually an obstacle to smooth performance. Therefore, the best way to learn what to do is to experience it in a controlled, systematic way. And when the goal is for each action to suggest the next in a smooth chain of behavior, we can accomplish this most easily by beginning at the end.

Here’s how it works. Find the last tiny puzzle piece of your project: The last chord of the song, the last phrase of your monologue, the last flourish of a complex movement. Perform it as slowly as necessary to make the action smooth and confident. You will have the satisfaction of a “ta da!” moment, because that’s the nature of the end.

Next, incorporate the penultimate puzzle piece: Perform the three note motif before the last chord, the second-to-last phrase of the monologue, or the motion that leads into the ending flourish, followed by the “ta da!” ending you’ve already established.

Next, find the piece just before the penultimate piece. You might perform it once by itself, coming to a stop at the beginning of the penultimate piece, overlapping slightly. Then, perform these three pieces in order. If it’s not smooth and easy, go slower.

Your progress consists of working your way forward from the end in tiny increments. As you do, you are always moving into familiar territory. You are eliminating the “stutter start” that so many of us experience when we expect ourselves to be able to do something perfectly on the first try, attempting it repeatedly even though we can’t really do it. Instead, you’re linking every action, every movement, every stimulus, with the next one, ensuring a smooth, unbroken chain. Your backchaining work is done when you’ve reached the beginning and can execute the entire sequence effortlessly, though perhaps slowly.

My friend Jen, an actor, has been amazed at the impact that backchaining has had on her work. Not only is she preparing for auditions and roles in a fraction of the time it used to take, she’s also seeing new possibilities for immersing herself in a character. She says that backchaining, “allows you to live in the moment as you are learning. I am sitting here with this one line (knowing what comes next, but not before), and I am endowing it [with emotion]. Every line, I dive this deep for because I know what comes next. I don't worry about the next line while I'm on the current one. I seek to understand and work to endow each line with the depth that is inherent in it, [whereas] I used to push through to get to the end.”

I’ve heard from friends and colleagues that backchaining has helped them prepare kids for their b’nai mitvah Torah readings, learn complex piano pieces, and memorize speeches. I once used backchaining to learn all of the lyrics to Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe” from scratch in a single afternoon in order to perform it onstage later that night, from memory. It worked.

Backchaining is a powerful technique, especially when combined with my Comfort Scale. It can transform your learning experience, eliminating the frustrations of the usual, “start at the beginning and go until you mess up,” strategy that is otherwise the default. Using backchaining consistently will open up a new level of ease and grace in your performance that will amaze you. I’ll admit, it may not get you all the way to fame and fortune, but be ready just in case. You may be surprised.

Have you ever tried backchaining? Can you think of any applications of this strategy in your work and life? Ready to train your dog to go fetch the mail? Let me know in the comments!