“Begin with the end in mind.”
For fans of Stephen R. Covey, this short, insightful phrase is known as the second habit of highly effective people.
I want to address an issue that often gets overlooked—beginning with the end in mind.
Although you need to pay attention to what you’re doing at the moment—learning your trade, developing solid relationships, outlining immediate goals, planning your next steps—you also need to gaze far into the future to what you ultimately hope to achieve.
Would you hop in your car and start driving without having some idea of where you were going? Of course not. And yet, I’m amazed at the number of people who run their lives that way. They spend more time putting together their grocery list than designing their future.
And then they wonder why they never fulfill their dreams.
I’ll tell you why. People who live their dreams succeed because they plan accurately, generate new ideas and take action. Individuals who fail to get past the dream stage do none of those things. Dream achievers start with the end in view; the others don’t start at all.
Starting with the end in view requires both energy and direction. Neither comes automatically, however. Energy stems from passion, and direction is the result of planning.
In other words, the passion in your life will pull you forward toward your desired destination, and proper planning will keep you on the right path.
Here are three key reasons why it’s so critical to start with the end in view:
- It gets you started right. You may have heard the phrase, “All’s well that ends well.” I’d like to offer a variation on that theme: All’s well that begins well.
How do you begin well? By first determining where you want to go. That might sound rather obvious, but it’s an integral—albeit sometimes very difficult—part of the process. If you’re not sure where you want to go in life, start by identifying your passions and your gifts.
Next, find someone who has been successful in areas that interest you. Watch how they do life. Listen to them. Absorb all you can from them. Then use what you’ve learned to pinpoint your destination or goal.
- It keeps you going right. When you start with the end in view, you don’t waste your energy shooting at unnecessary targets. Because you have a clear picture of where you’re going, you can focus more of your energy, time and resources on getting there.
Watching your desired “end” get closer also can motivate you to keep going—and we all need that type of encouragement as the excitement of starting turns into the sometimes—exhausting business of daily life and work.
- It gets you where you need to go. As I’ve said many times, what gets measured, gets done. Abraham Lincoln said, “I will get ready and perhaps my chance will come.” Soren Kierkegaard stated, “Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward.”
Legendary basketball coach John Wooden asserted, “It’s too late to prepare when opportunity comes.”
These three leaders understood the value of getting ready for today with an eye fixed firmly on the future. So take it from a great U.S. President, a Danish philosopher and a legendary basketball coach: If you want to increase your chances of success, start with the end in view.
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John Maxwell grew up in the 1950s in the small Midwestern city of Circleville, Ohio. John's earliest childhood memory is of knowing that he would someday be a pastor. He professed faith in Christ at the age of three, and reaffirmed that commitment when he was 13. At age 17, John began preparing for the ministry. He attended Circleville Bible College, earning his bachelor's degree in 1969. In June of that same year, he married his sweetheart, Margaret, and moved to tiny Hillham, Indiana, where he began his first pastorate.
While serving in his second church, Maxwell began to study the correlation between leadership effectiveness and ministry effectiveness. On July 4, 1976, while preaching at a service commemorating America's bicentennial, John sensed that God was calling him into a ministry to pastors. Within days after that event, pastors began to contact him, asking for his assistance in nurturing their churches. Over the next four years, on an informal basis, John helped scores of fellow pastors. Then, in 1980, he was asked to become Executive Director of Evangelism for the Wesleyan denomination.
Though his time at Wesleyan headquarters was productive, John soon realized that his deeper desire was to help pastors from numerous denominations. He knew that desire would be unfulfilled if he were to stay at denominational headquarters. As a result, in 1981 John accepted the call to return to the pastorate, this time at Skyline Wesleyan Church in the San Diego, California area. But he did so with the church's blessing to pursue his vision. The Skyline congregation allowed him to continue mentoring and assisting pastors even as he led them to new levels.
In 1985, as he continued to equip and encourage other pastors, John took the next crucial step in leadership development. He founded a new company called INJOY and created the INJOY Life Club, featuring a monthly tape for leaders. The fledging operation, established in the corner of a garage, was soon bursting at the seams. The INJOY Life Club tapes were received with great enthusiasm, and the number of subscriptions quickly increased from hundreds to thousands. Simultaneously, the demand for other resources and seminars exploded. Pastors from coast to coast were responding, and their desire for help was even greater than John had anticipated.
As the years passed, INJOY began demanding more and more of John's time. In 1995, he resigned from his position as senior pastor at Skyline following a very fruitful 14-year tenure. The church had tripled in size and its lay ministry involvement had increased ten-fold. Dr. Maxwell is in great demand today as a speaker. Through his bestselling books, audio and video resources, and major conferences, he communicates directly with more than one million people every year. He is frequently asked to speak for organizations such as Promise Keepers and Focus on the Family, but his greatest joy and desire is to help pastors become better leaders.
Because the need for leadership development knows no borders, John established EQUIP, a non-profit organization which trains leaders in urban communities, academic institutions, and within international organizations. EQUIP is also spearheading a movement which has enlisted more than one million pastoral prayer partners who covenant to pray specifically for those who shepherd God's flock.
John continues to seek new opportunities to help churches and church leaders. He knows that one thing is constant: the only hope for the world is salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives life abundantly.