Begin With the End in Mind

A good start is absolutely critical for success in life. Sometimes when you start, challenges come that slow you down. You must be prepared to begin again. Keeping the end in focus will make it much easier to begin again should you experience setbacks.

Would you hop in your car and start driving without having some idea of where you were going? Of course not. You would know your destiny and make plans to arrive expediently. Should you hit traffic along the way, depending on how excited you are about your destiny, you would not get off the highway and turn around and head back home. Even if you make some detours due to the traffic, you remain focused on reaching your destiny.

Combine your passion to reach your goal with a plan of action. Being passionate about success is not enough. You must plan to obtain your goal. Don't discard your plan when setbacks happen, plan for setbacks to happen that you will discard. The setbacks are irrelevant to your goal, they only apply to adjustments that need to be made in your plan. See that and you will keep your eye on the prize.

Here are three key reasons why it's so critical to start with the end in view.

1. It gets you started right.
You may have heard the phrase, "All's well that ends well." I'd like to offer a variation on that theme: All's well that begins well. How do you begin well? By first determining where you want to go. If you're not sure where you want to go in life, start by identifying your passions and your gifts. Next, find someone who has been successful in areas that interest you. Watch how they do life. Listen to them. Absorb all you can from them. Then use what you've learned to pinpoint your destination or goal.

2. It keeps you going right.
When you start with the end in view, you don't waste your energy shooting at unnecessary targets. Because you have a clear picture of where you're going, you can focus more of your energy, time and resources on getting there. Watching your desired "end" get closer also can motivate you to keep going—and we all need that type of encouragement as the excitement of starting turns into the sometimes-exhausting business of daily life and work.

3. It gets you where you need to go.
What gets measured, gets done. Abraham Lincoln said, "I will get ready and perhaps my chance will come." Soren Kierkegaard stated, "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards." Legendary basketball coach John Wooden asserted, "It's too late to prepare when opportunity comes."
These three leaders understood the value of getting ready for today with an eye fixed firmly on the future. So take it from a great U.S. President, a Danish philosopher and a legendary basketball coach: If you want to increase your chances of success, start with the end in view.

Training Notes 9/24/04

Penny Minute:

Porter Goss is an ex-CIA spy who is now being considered for CIA Director. In his initial interview some 30 years ago here's what happened:

(taken from the Washington Post)

The CIA director's coat caught fire. Smoke rose from Allen Dulles's tan tweed jacket as he sat behind his desk, lighting his pipe, talking to a young Porter Goss. Goss was hoping to become a clandestine service officer. This was his final interview.

He thought, "Oh my God, this is part of the test, this is the last test. Do I scream 'Fire'? Do I dump coffee on him? What do I do?" And so, finally, during the next question -- as smoke was billowing out -- he just sort of stared at his coat with a look of alarm. And that's all that ever happened, and he never knew whether it was part of the test.

His Training allowed him to remain calm under pressure but still give the appropriate response so that right or wrong, he passed the perceived test. He was not guided by his agenda (to get the job), he let his training lead him to respond in a manner that left the door open for the next action. We are taught to respond to pressure in a manner that allows us to continue to flow. Our greatest failures are a result of not responding appropriately under pressure. Only being placed in the same or similar situations over and over again will provoke what we have been taught to become a part of us and a natural response. This is Training.

Train the Trainers

When Elder Woodus was in charge of Member Services and Staff Support at ACC, he was a strict "trainer". Here's some questions I remember him asking:

What do you think you can do?
What is your background?
What do you see yourself doing to help him and the Church?

Then he would ask you questions that were designed to put pressure on what you have declared you are capable of doing. If you did not respond as he required, he would not assign you to your requested position. He would assign you to someone else in that position or tyo another task that fit your skills better. If you kept pressing him, he would ask you more questions (pressure) and tell you how long it would take you to get the job you were requesting. I remember him giving crazy menial tasks (bathroom duty when you asked to be in the tape ministry). I wanted to teach Sunday School. My first job was teaching the 3-6yr olds to sit still and sing songs for 30 minutes every Sunday.

He majored on the transfer of authority. He would say things like, "If I ask you, the Lord has asked you. I go where Angels fear to tread."

He would then assign you to someone and say, "If they ask you to do something, respond as if I have asked you to do it." You know that chant, "The Champ is Coming, the Champ is coming"? Well, when we would have church clean up days, it was "Woodus is coming, Woodus is coming" .

Here's some bullet points:

• You can be taught to perform. You won't know what you can do until you have had pressure applied.
• You must be placed in a simulated environment and have pressure applied before the teacher will know that you are trained.
• In the simulation, if you say you can type 40wpm, you will be given a typing test while phones are ringing that you must also answer. Teaching permits you to do it undisturbed. Continual repitition will allow you to do it while you answer the phone and drink coffee. Now you are trained.
• In the simulation, a baby is crying, the phone is ringing, someone is knocking on the door and you have to use the bathroom. Question: what do you handle first? How you answer reflects your agenda. Whether I love children, talking, serving others or handling my own needs first will be reflected in my answer. Each task must be handled, how I prioritize is an indication of what I am trained to do. No answer is wrong, but the answer tells the teacher my strength and my weakness and permits the next lesson to come forth.
• No person goes to school and expects there will not be a test. The initial test is designed to find out what you know under pressure. Wrong answers are not criticism, they show you what areas need more study so that you can pass the final test and be released to perform. The teacher must tell you what is wrong so that you are no longer misguided, but can now be redirected. Without being told (and receiving) what's wrong, you cannot make the
  necessary adjustment and even if you pass to the next level, your error will show up again.
• When you are being taught to perform anything in Excellence, the teacher always starts by asking what you know already. Then you are told to forget all theory and keep only the constant facts (principle). It's not based on what happened in the last experiment, it's based on applying the constant in a current environment with new variables. You can
  hold certain expectations based on the applied principle, but you must remain open for the outcome to change if the variables and conditions are not the same. Most people go through life with the same principles and theoretics from their last experience guiding their response in a new experience that has new variables. They regard theory more than the principle.
• The principle is always that you are designed for Success. Even if your last experience resulted in a failure, it was based on variables and not the constant. You are the constant and as long as you remain involved, there is bound to be Success.

Determining and Removing Agendas

In a simulated environment, you are given a glass that has half water and half air. Is the glass half empty or half full? Before an answer can be given, what questions do you ask?

If the person asks, who drank the water, their agenda is revealed. They will always see others as the catalyst of a problem. They are not disqualified for success. They can be labeled problem Solvers if they are trained to use their insight properly. Even if they answer the glass is half empty, they are focused more on the problem and can be effectively used to assist in pointing out and evaluating weaknesses.

If they ask, half empty or half full of what, you know that they desire to know the agenda of the teacher. This is a person that can be trained for a position of authority and understands authority. They will seek to carry out the Desire of the Teacher. If they answer the glass is half full of water or half full of air, they can be trained to lead but they cannot oversee the entire task force. They only see the part that they are focused on.

The person who answers the glass is half full of water and half full of air sees the entire picture. They can be trained and can be a trainer. Their focus is not based on solely the problem, but they are a Solution Provider. They see the whole picture and will provide assistance and guidance that gives everyone a chance to perform.