Begin with the end in mind.

"Most of us don’t aim for failure, often we wander and meander into it

because we didn’t have a clear destination in mind for our lives."

Before we start any journey, we typically have a destination in mind. This chosen destination then determines the route we take to get there. Often there are several possible routes and occasionally we experience roadblocks and detours, but even then, knowing where we want to arrive influences the journey we take.

I have wondered, for my own life, and through observing others, how often we just wander through life with no clear destination in mind. Wandering can prove fatal. There are many a tale of people wandering off a hiking trail, getting lost, and dying.

I am convinced that nobody commences any portion of their life with a deliberate or intentional strategy or plan to fail. But we don’t have to look too far, even into our own lives, to see the presence of failure or mediocrity.

Most of us don’t aim for failure, often we wander and meander into it because we didn’t have a clear destination in mind for our lives. Wise is the counsel found in proverbs that says that without vision people perish.

I don’t interpret perishing to always mean death. Dysfunctional and failed marriages and families is perishing. Poor mental and physical health is perishing. Financial insecurity and indebtedness is perishing. Weak or nonexistent faith is perishing. And I could list other things but I think you get what I am trying to say.

No one sets out hoping to be obese and sick, or stressed, depressed or anxious. I highly doubt any couple on their wedding day was hoping for a divorce in their future. But look around and we see so much of this and more.

Now I understand that life and its problems are complex and multi-faceted, and I’m not suggesting that starting with the end in mind will iron out or eliminate our problems. But if we don’t even start with a clear goal, how can we expect to ever achieve it? Perhaps by accident, but never by design.

Starting with the end in mind is not about mapping every possible contingency; that’s impossible. Instead it means doing our best to fast-forward into our future and deciding today what we want our life to be and look like in the future.

For example, as a husband and father with five children, the end destination I am heading for when I am sixty or older is to have robust relationships with my wife Cassandra and each of our five children.

Sometimes however you wouldn’t guess this by my words, choices, or actions, which leads me to another important point for us to consider.

Even when we start out with the end in mind, we are all tempted to sacrifice what we want for what we want in the moment; distractions, diversions and detours will demand and even scream for our attention, time and resources.

One antidote to avoiding many of life’s detours and pitfalls is to not only start with the end in mind, but to have the end continually in our minds. We can’t just start our journey then halfway switch off the GPS and say “I’ve got this”, that simply doesn’t work very well.

Since no one is capable of flawless performance and perfect balance is impossible, we must spend regular time in reflective moments and continually make the small and necessary adjustments to stay aligned and on track to arrive at our desired destination.

When our mind becomes riveted on the end outcomes for our lives, our daily behaviors begin to align to that end and making correct choices becomes easier.

Starting and continuing with the end in mind and aligning our choices to meet this end will require faith. We can’t see the future so we are trusting that the small and simple things we do today will cause what we want tomorrow to occur.

Now let me just add a word to those who perhaps feel like they’ve wandered too far off the path. However off-course we may be, we can always choose today, to start the journey back home. This is true of our relationships, health, finances and any other area of our lives. And it is true whether we are sixteen or sixty-five. Whoever you are and wherever you are, I invite you to continue the rest of your journey with the end in mind.

I hope this helps to make life sweeter for you. All the best,

Matthew

Thank you for reading. If this made life a little sweeter, share it with someone you care about and perhaps it'll make their life sweeter too.