Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind

Are you doing what you dreamed you would do? Are you living the life you always wanted? Are you the person you wanted to be?

You have to first imagine where you want to be and then you can reach that place.

Visualize who you are and what you want in life. Once you know where you want to go, start each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your destination.

In the 7 habits book, the author asks you to do a slightly morbid mental exercise. Imagine you are at your own funeral three years from today. You look at the program and see there are to be four speakers. The first is from your family. The second speaker is one of your friends (someone who can give a sense of what you were as a person). The third speaker is from your work or profession. And the fourth is from your community.

In the notebook below, write what you would like them to say about you.

This exercise forces you to think about your relationships, accomplishments, and what you would like to leave behind. When you consider the end result you would like to achieve, then you can organize things so that they result the way you want them to. Considering your ultimate outcome is an essential aspect of organizing your life.
That is why the second habit is to begin every task with a desired outcome. In order to know what your desired outcome is, the author suggests you create a personal mission statement. This will describe what you truly hope to achieve, what values you want to uphold, and what you define as real success. Your personal mission statement will serve as a guide to help you make decisions. It will also determine your weekly goals since they should support your mission statement.

Stephen Covey encourages you to write your own personal vision statement. Focus on what you want to be and do. It is your plan for success.

1. Write your own personal vision statement (see our personal vision statement maker).
2. Open the 7 habits worksheet and answer the following questions. You can also type the answers in the notebook above if you prefer. If you haven’t already printed the workbook then open it here.

My personal vision statement

My greater purpose is:                                                                            

                                                                               

                                                                               

Set some goals. Your goals must be connected to something important. If they aren’t, they won’t get done. Write 3 long-term goals that support your mission statement above.

• Long term goal 1
• Long term goal 2
• Long term goal 3

With every goal you set, it’s important to ask yourself what, why, how, and when.

• What? This is your goal and it should bring your life into alignment with what you have defined as your greater purpose.
• Why? Why is each goal important to you and your mission?
• How? How will you know when you have reached your goal? How will you reach your goal? How will you empower yourself to achieve your goal?

Ask yourself how for each step. Choose one of your long-term goals. Ask yourself how you are going to achieve it. Each time you write how ask yourself how you are going to do that. When you write how you are going to do that, ask yourself how you will do the next step. Keep going for as long as you can. This will force you to get very specific.

My goal is:

                                                                                                                 (how?)

                                                                                                                 (how?)

                                                                                                                 (how?)

                                                                                                                 (how?)

For example, my goal is to run a half marathon.

• I will start running 4 times a week. (but how?)
• I will run 1 km and then I will increase this distance by 10% each week. (but how?)
• I will make time 4 times a week and make sure I go for 4 runs (but how?)
• I will ask a friend to run with me so that I have an accountability buddy (but how?)
• I will call Susan and ask her if she wants to commit to this goal with me (but how?)
• I will sign up for a race so that I have a goal and I feel committed (but how?)
• I will sign up for the x race.

When? Set a deadline for each of your long-term goals.

Now that you have broken your goal into steps, you can schedule those steps into your planner. Ask yourself what you can get done each day to complete each step. Print a monthly planner and schedule each step.

Start each day with the vision of that goal in mind and get the tasks you have scheduled done. Use the free weekly planner to help you do this every single day. If you haven’t already printed the planner then see the free 7 habits planner.