put the cart before the horse
Priorities completely reversed
To put the cart before the horse is to do things in the wrong order, placing what should come second before what should come first.
The image is of a cart positioned ahead of the horse that should be pulling it—an arrangement that goes nowhere.
Don't put the cart before the horse by buying furniture before you've found an apartment.
- ass-backwardsReversed and bungled
- ass over teakettleTumbling completely upside-down
- misprioritizeAssign importance incorrectly
- wrong orderIncorrect arrangement of elements
- disorderAbsence of organization
miscalculate · jump the gun · get ahead of oneself · reverse · illogical · sequencing · skip a step · precedence · premature · tail wagging the dog · dependency · mistake · backward · misunderstand · impractical · analogy · procedure · err
- farm idiomsmake hay while the sun shines, cream of the crop, till the cows come home, buy the farm, put out to pasture
- Horse Idiomsdark horse, high horse, straight from the horse's mouth, horse sense, beating a dead horse
- Assumptionsfalse assumption, stereotypes, generalizations, biases, prejudices
- impulsive actionsspur of the moment, on a whim, snap decision, knee-jerk reaction, rush in
put the cart before the horseplan ahead
Arrange things in advance
due diligence · systematic approach · do your homework · proceed with caution · strategic planning
put the cart before the horsesystematic approach
Organized, repeatable procedure
due diligence · plan ahead · be patient · take one's time · all in good time