My past corporate career with the largest entertainment company has taught me something important and super useful for making the right business decisions – mastering the art of “in-betweening.”

When Pixar animators want a smooth transition from one keyframe of an animation sequence to another, they use the word “in-betweening. It means after the animator develops a perfect beginning, middle and end keyframes, the rest, or in-between frames, can be created quickly by outsourcing, by a less skilled animator, or by an intern, as there is not much that can go wrong with those in-between frames. Every movement or action is divided into those keyframes upfront, and afterward, animators can focus on the details.

Any business decision, large or small, should be looked at in a similar way. Next time you have a big idea to tackle, a concept to test, or a problem to solve, put yourself in an animators’ shoes.

Instead of big bold moves, set up keyframes and move from one to another consistently, and then use the process of in-betweening – slowly transitioning from one keyframe to another. You will see how the horizon suddenly expands and how many goals will be reachable as a result.

0:00 What is In-Betweening
1:52 Applying In-Betweening In Real Life
2:32 Example 1: Deciding Which CRM Software to Track Sales
3:46 Example 2: Buy a Bigger House
5:16 Conclusion