Begin With The End In Mind!

Begin with the End in Mind!

As the Holiday Season starts to consume our thoughts and priorities we have another element of what I like to call “Hibernation Mode” to battle. That is this feeling of lack of motivation. This hits on two fronts. A) Because of the sometime stressful nature of the Holidays and the familial duties that accompany them, and B) What I call “the cycle of winter” with its effects both psychologically and physically. With less daylight during the day and cooler weather our motivation tends to wane a bit. It’s not about pushing through on the last leg of the race and giving it all you’ve got, but more about not losing focus on our goals and keeping some consistency. While it is okay and normal to slow down this time of year brings up a very good subject matter to discuss, one with which most people revisit very strongly come the first of the year when those dreadful resolutions are made.

Begin With the End in Mind

“Beginning with the End in Mind” means developing a clear picture of where you want to go. This has a wide range of application, from very small projects all the way up to deciding how you live your life. You may not realize it, but you begin with the end in mind all the time. You draw up a blueprint before you build a house. You read a recipe before you bake a cake. In cases like this, it’s the obvious thing to do. But many people don’t take the time to apply this same concept to how they live their lives. If you apply the “begin with the end in mind” concept to your life in the same way you’d apply it on any project, you’ll probably find yourself thinking about your values, goals, and priorities. And when you focus on these, the results are almost always positive.

We symbolize this concept in the martial arts as achieving a Black Belt. Can you think of a way to “begin with the end in mind” for achieving any of your life’s goals? I encourage you to explore this simple yet powerful concept.

In Oneness,

Sensei