Starting with the END in Mind

After working with several clients and talking to many of my business partners, I have discovered that many people lack one very important concept on their way to finding their personal success and happiness.  That concept is simply to start with your end goal in mind and work backwards.

The concept seems easy enough, yet very few people actually do it.  Here is an example that I will use from my business.  My business, in simplest terms, is about teaching duplication, much like how McDonald’s teaches duplication to all of their franchise owners and employees.  When was the last time you saw your local McDonald’s offer you McPizza?  That would never happen, in fact, like their food or not, you can walk into any McDonald’s throughout the world and you know exactly what to expect.  You know what the menu will look like, what the staff will be wearing, where the fries will be cooked and what the food will taste like.  McDonald’s has mastered duplication.  By doing so, McDonald’s can train almost anyone to to function at the required level to perform their job.  In addition, the process of duplication allows the franchise owner to buy the franchise, hire the right managers and allow the business to run smoothly whether they are present or not.  In order for this to have happened, McDonald’s had to put a lot of time and consideration into what their end goal of creating a system of franchise duplication would look like BEFORE they started to train their employees or build a restaurant.  If they hadn’t started with the end in mind, how would they have been able to ensure that all McDonald’s looked, operated and tasted the same?  They couldn’t have.  So then, let me ask those of you in my business, what is your end goal?  Is it “freedom” so you can do what you want to do when you want to do it with whom you want to do it with?  If so, how will ever reach your desired goal of “freedom” if you don’t teach and empower others to do for themselves, with or without you present?  The simple answer is, you can’t.  IF your end goal is FREEDOM, yet you need to be in control of or do EVERYTHING, you aren’t creating FREEDOM, you’re creating another JOB.  If your phone is ringing non stop, and you are receiving one text after another, its time to remember that your end goal was FREEDOM, therefore you may need to reexamine how you are going about teaching duplication and empowering others to take action with or without you present.  If you don’t, you will always be like the hamster on the wheel trying to keep up.

Here is another example of starting with the end in mind.  Let’s say that we were going on a vacation.  Could you possible know how to get there if you didn’t have a destination in mind?  Of course not.  So why is it that most people wake up living their lives day to day with no “bigger” picture in mind.  Things like, how much money will it take to retire?  What qualities are most important in a partner, how many kids would you like to have, what kind of career will inspire your soul or what your ideal picture of health looks like?

Starting with the end in mind doesn’t mean that you can’t be flexible and change or adjust your ultimate destination, but starting with the end in mind will ensure that when you get there, you ended up where you wanted to go in the first place.

Just imagine how many heart attacks could have been avoided, divorces prevented and careers fulfilled if only a little more time, care and clarity was put into considering the end BEFORE you began.

Have a great day!