Stephen Covey’s Begin With The End In Mind

Today is a special feature for my most played podcast on spreaker.com – Stephen Covey’s Begin With The End In Mind.

Not sure about the analytics behind this, but there have been almost a half-a-grand plays on this particular podcast, so I will write a short blog and post the podcast down below if you guys want to listen in!

To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination.  I was just recently teaching how to write business plans for some of my students, and I realized that some articles we came across didn’t coincide with what we were doing.  In fact, people who actually do write business plans don’t abide by them.  It requires flexibility, but you need to know the forecast of the business and what direction it’s going in.

Before you begin anything in life, always have a clear goal at the very end and trust the process.

If you’re a basketball player, what’s the ultimate goal? Do you just want to play your way through high school to keep in shape? What about university? Would you like to play in the NBA? Blue-collar player? Starter? All-star?

How about Track & Field? I wish I had asked myself this question years ago.  I didn’t have an end goal.  I had no idea what I wanted to become in terms of a star.  What times did I want, to how much strength I needed to run the 110 meter high hurdles.

I remember I asked a pseudo-mentor at a track and field meet, “could you please give me some motivation before running?”  What I would’ve told myself was, “Arsenio, who do yo want to become? What do you want? What’s your end goal? Specific times?”  Instead, what I got was, “run fast!”  Yeah…..thank you.

The process will have a lot more “downs” than “ups,” but it’s all part…of the process.  Going through not only those years of track and field in high school, to unwittingly quitting at college because I hated the hate going around the team was all downs….but there was a lot of character building in it.

Work

A lot of people right now are engaged in survival “busy-ness” that isn’t getting them anywhere in life.  They discover towards the end that the “success” ladder was leaning up against the wrong wall for the last 10 years.  It is possible to be busy – very busy – without being very effective.  You can be the ultimate “hustler” but I see people hustling at companies making minimum wage; picking up large containers of cement.  I used to be that person in 11th grade before I quit.

People, from all walks of life including doctors, actors, business professionals, athletes – often struggle to achieve a higher income.  Why? That drive to achieve that particular goal blinded them to the things that really mattered most and now are gone.

All Things Are Created Twice

All things are created twice.  That’s the principle of “beginning with the end in mind.”

You need to first have a mental creation before having a physical creating.  Can you imagine construction workers building a house without a blueprint of it? Where would they start? How does the owner want it to look? It would be impossible to get the “perfect” house because you have to first vision that perfect house.  Having a clear image is vital and the first step.  The carpenter’s rule is “measure twice, cut once.”  You have to make sure that the blue print, which is the first creation, is what you really want, that you’ve thought everything through.

Look at a business.  if you want to have a success enterprise, you clearly define what you’re trying to accomplish.