The End in Mind

  I think it was back in the early 90's, in my last years at IBM, that I attended a class about this new book that was written by Stephen R. Covey titled The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits.php.  One of the things in the book that I have never forgotten is Habit 2 Begin With the End in Mind.  At the beginning of that chapter Mr. Covey tells a story and asks the reader to imagine being at their own funeral.  He asks us to think about what the people who stand up to talk at our funeral would say.  I would recommend that anyone interested in Leadership read this book, but more importantly think about Habit 2.  What are our friends going to say at our funerals?  Will our church family have the same things to say about us as our co-workers?  Will the way we lead be the same no matter what our job titles are?  I hope that when it is my time to go anyone that gets up to speak ( assuming anyone shows up at my funeral) has pretty much the same story to tell about me.  I truly believe that should be the goal of everyone.

     Last week when I wrote about SMART goals I think I might have jumped the gun a little bit.  I really should have mentioned the story above before writing about goal setting.  How much more effective would our goals be if we thought about our legacy when we were creating them?  Remembering this story is really making me think.  It is a very exciting time in my life right now.

     After graduating from Concordia University sixteen years ago I became very interested in leadership.  At first I read every Leadership book I could get my hands on, but life began to get in the way.  The more I became responsible for "STUFF" the less time I set aside to read and grow.  Now I'm back at Concordia University working on my MBA in Organizational Leadership and Management and my thirst for knowledge is back.  I am excited again about the prospect of learning more about Leadership and putting that learning to use. 

     I am currently in the process of forming my goals for the coming year and one of those goals will be to read and journal every day.  Using a journal benefits us in many ways and next week I will begin a discussion on that very important Leadership skill.

     I want to close this week with one request.  As you look at your goals for your life will you think about the end?  I feel confident that after last week's entry your goals will be SMART and hopefully after this week you will develop those goals by remembering to Begin With the End in Mind.

I hope everyone has a great week.