Begin with the end in mind

I first learned about this concept from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in high school. Because it sounded so simple and obvious, I ignored it. But I gradually realized it is a powerful tool if I force myself to define The End by repeatedly asking clarifying questions.

Here are three examples to illustrate what I mean:

Recently, I have been training for a 2.4km run test. To begin with The End in mind is to set a goal time, say 9 minutes. With that specific goal in mind, I can work backwards and calculate that I need to run 400m every 90 seconds. And with that, I can plan my training program accordingly, such as running 400m intervals at that pace. "Run fast" isn't The End. It doesn't help me work out what I should do for my training. If I simply aim to run fast, I will likely run a lot but never hit my goal time.

I have been using my commonplace book to collect quotes and ideas for later use. But I didn't specify The End. The vague answer is "information that might help me later." But what kind of information? Everything under the sun? Anything interesting to me? What is interesting to me? Without a filter, I gathered many quotes and ideas I will likely never use. A better answer might be "Parenting advice, writing references, life lessons". Or even better: "Parenting advice on inculcating virtues, building character, and education". Still, we can ask, "What virtues? What character? What education?" And we can also ask, "When will I need this information? When I'm planning activities for the weekends? When an incident happens and I want to educate my children? Or simply to share during dinners?"

Say, I want to make enough money to retire. How much exactly is enough? Without a specific number, most people keep working to make more. But "more" is not The End. When do they stop or slow down? And what is retirement? If I want to travel the world, I could work remotely and travel; then The End might not be a specific number but a remote job. If I simply want to stop working and not worry about money, I also need to know (or decide) how much my lifestyle will cost.

If I don't know what my End is yet, I'll explore. I run a 2.4km time trial to know my current fitness to set a realistic goal. I read widely because there might be areas of parenting I had not thought about. I experiment with my ideal retirement life to see if that is really what I want.

While The End should be specific, it doesn't have to be fixed. Life happens, dreams change. I might achieve "my number" but decide I need a higher one. Or I might decide I have enough even before I reach "my number". For this, I like my former manager's approach: Have a plan but revise it regularly.

In recent years, some people have argued that systems are better than goals. "To write daily" is better than "to publish a book" because progress stops once a goal is reached. I think that's splitting hairs; a goal can be "to write daily" or just set another goal. I refuse to believe that people who are motivated enough to set concrete goals will just stop after hitting them. And maybe stopping is what they want.

I don't have all the answers for myself yet. I wrote this field note to expose the gaps in my thinking. Excuse me now; I've got work to do.