Begin With The End In Mind And Sketch That Vision On Paper

Human nature tells you to plan from the beginning. I say start with the end in mind, draw what that will look like on paper and post your “Success Sketch” where you can see it every day. Stick men are acceptable! If you are changing jobs, don’t blindly answer classified ads and send out resumes. Begin by making sure you want to stay in the same profession. If not, then read up on career choices that interest you and in which you have transferable skills. Sketch yourself in your new role, smiling, being happy in your new office, house or with customers.

If you are looking for a new home, don’t start by determining the price you can afford, start with numbering the priorities of what you ultimately want i.e.: 1) proximity to work, 2) school district, 3) proximity to shopping, 4) number of bedrooms, 5) family room on first floor, etc. See yourself living there – actually walking around the house and getting in the car to go to work in the morning. Draw that house on a diagram with your office and schools and post it where you will see it every day. If you are leaving home or starting a new life, where do you ultimately want to end up? I suspect that isn’t in a one bedroom apartment in a questionable part of town. Perhaps you want to have a small home in a nice neighborhood.

Here’s an example – you may want to start a business but you do not know what kind of business would be right for you. So you start reading the classified ads for business opportunities. You see a vending machine business that has a low cost of entry and Boom! you are a business owner. Then you realize that vending machines are heavy and need transported and you do not have a truck. They require a lot of time on the road and you do not like to drive. And the business is more competitive than you thought because anyone can purchase the machines. It’s locating them with a good agreement that is the key to success.

If you had begun with the end in mind you may have started with what your ultimate work day would be like: 1) small office in or close to your home, 2) few or no employees, 3) low overhead, 4) little to no travel, 5) using your multitasking ability. As you start to frame these priorities specific examples of lines of work will come to mind. Low overhead generally lends itself to service related work such as writing, design, temporary staffing, cleaning agency, or consulting. If you had wanted to do something creative that could grow you may be a seamstress that will design something specific that can be mass produced in China.

If you are not sure what you specifically want to do, sketch yourself in your ideal work environment and post it in your kitchen. As the vision becomes clearer, you can draw in the particulars.

Rule Break: Instead of thinking about the things that worry you, start repeatedly seeing yourself at the END of your dream – not all that you are going to go through to get there but what it will feel like THERE! Say to yourself everyday, “I will be _________ ( a corporate executive, living at the beach, enjoying the love of my life.” Make no room in your head for anything outside of that vision. If other thoughts creep up, repeat your mantra out loud.

Eleven Key Questions to Help You Begin with the End in Mind:

1. Where do you want to live? Current neighborhood? In the city? In the country? At the beach?

2. Where do you want to work? Home? Small office? Large Corporations? Close to home? Doesn’t matter? Don’t want to work?

3. Do you like to plan things systematically or are you creative and free flowing?

4. Do you want to take direction or give direction?

5. Do you value flexibility to your schedule?

6. Do you like to work on one task at a time or do you prefer multitasking?

7. Do you like to travel during a typical day or prefer to stay at home or in the office? A mix?

8. Do you want to work/live with a lot of people around you or a few?

9. What qualities do you see in successful people? Are you cultivating those?

10. Start to sketch yourself living the answers to these questions and hang your ‘Success Sketch” where you will see it at the start of every day.

11. Mark your calendar so that every two months you monitor your progress. Change, add to or edit your sketch if necessary.