Do you have a vision of what you would like your life to be in the future? Where is your life heading? What do you hope to achieve in 5 years time? What do you want to be after school, college or university? What will make you happy in years to come? Do you feel that life is passing you by and that you drift from one day to another? A goal or objective is a projected computation of affairs that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve—a personal or organisational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development. Many people endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.- Wikipedia

1. This post was published to Road map to successful live... at 21:57:51 07/12/2010Begin with the end in mind<br />left-3123565<br />Do you have a vision of what you would like your life to be in the future?<br />Where is your life heading?<br />What do you hope to achieve in 5 years time?<br />What do you want to be after school, college or university?<br />What will make you happy in years to come?<br />Do you feel that life is passing you by and that you drift from one day to another?<br />A goal or objective is a projected computation of affairs that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve—a personal or organisational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development. Many people endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.- Wikipedia<br />These are all questions that I would ask if I started all over again. Why? I would have achieved so much more if I started my career with the end in mind. My dream is to help small businesses to take control of their business and provide leadership and guidance so that they can realise their potential and achieve their goals. I am not sure why I have always wanted this but...this is what I wanted.<br />right67310<br />When I finished university and started my accounting qualification and then started to work as an accountant...I did not have the end goal in mind and started a career that took me away from my dreams. I did not allow myself to stop and think...is this really what I want in my life? Will this path honestly get me where I want to be?<br />Then a mentor of mine asked me to imagine myself in ten years time writing a letter to a friend, telling them everything about my home, family, jobs, business, cars, happiness, family. You name it I was to write everything down. Stephen Covey also suggested in his famous book, “The 7 habits of highly effective people”, to imagine that you are at your own funeral and you had friends and loved ones talking about you and your life, what would you have them say about you? These examples all ask the questions...what did I want out of life?<br />left635I am not suggesting that you should wish your life away, but it is always good to have a plan to pursue your dreams. <br />Let’s take an example. Say that you wanted to become a professor that writes books. Money is not the objective here but the lifestyle is. What would that be like?<br />If you are to become a professor, for instance, you may undertake some lectures, write papers for a university and attend workgroups and seminars because the subject has a particular interest to you.<br />Again, what is your dream?<br />Where do you start?<br />Start with the end goal in mind.<br />What skills, experience and knowledge would you require in the last job or business before you retire? How did you get them, whom did you speak to in order to get the best advice? <br />Using a similar graph opposite, draw a line diagonally and starting from the end point, the far right, list the jobs, experience, qualifications, experiences you will need to work backwards until you get to the starting point....the here and now<br />The end in mind is not just focused on the career goals. You can use this approach in conflict resolution, marital bliss, world journeys, volunteering etc . Where do you want a relationship to be during and after the conflict resolution? Focus on what you want rather than what you do not want?<br />You can use this as approach as motivation for your savings account. If you want to save money for a 1955 Jaguar that would bring back good memories of your childhood, having the end goal in mind it serves as a motivational trigger, to avoid you going into your bank account and drawing the savings out to buy a new coat. This of course would suit your short-term needs and wants, but the end goal would have been lost. Having the end goal in mind will help steer you in the direction of the long term.<br />Good luck<br />Stephen Covey<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8LM4C1l70U<br />Here is a presentation on being proactive and the 7 habits of highly effective people<br />http://slidesha.re/bPaznm<br />Simon Misiewicz<br />Programme / Change Management<br />Optimise-GB Limited<br />simon@optimise-gb.com<br />