Begin with the end in mind (quotes)

For any endeavour, have a clear intended outcome…

  • Begin with the end in mind. Shape your future by creating a mental vision and purpose for any project, large or small. Stephen Covey 
  • Always start every endeavour with a clear sense of purpose. Stephen Covey 
  • Half of the secret to achieving clarity in any situation is asking, “What are we trying to do here?” David Allen 
  • We are more in need of a destination and less in need of a roadmap. Stephen Covey 
  • Visualize your successful outcome in great detail. Leo Babauta
  • Have you envisioned wild success lately? David Allen
  • The secret of achievement is to hold a picture of a successful outcome in mind. Norman Vincent Peale 
  • Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty- four hour days. Zig Ziglar 
  • To begin with the end in mind means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen. Stephen Covey 
  • Clarity precedes success. Robin Sharma
  • ClarityBecome clear what you want out of lifeIntentionGoal settingPlanningStrategy
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… for all great things are created in the mind first   

  • Begin with the end in mind is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things. Stephen Covey
  • Nothing happens unless first a dream. Carl Sandburg 
  • Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. George Bernard Shaw 
  • VisionThe mind
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Having clear intended outcomes has strong benefits …

  • If the vision is there, the means will follow. Faith Popcorn 
  • He who determines the end, provides the means. Benedetto Varchi
  • There are those who travel and those who are going somewhere. They are different and yet they are the same. The successful one has this over his rivals: he knows where he is going. Mark Caine 
  • Have a clear vision to bring clarity and focus to everything you do. Your vision allows you to decide what to do, as much as it helps you to decide what not to do. That is, your vision will allow you to decide which commitments to take on and which commitments to say “no” to. Marelisa Fabrega  
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… while not having clear intended outcomes comes at a price   

  • Having lost sight of our objectives, we redoubled our efforts.
  • Nothing is more terrible than activity without insight. Thomas Carlyle
  • Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. Henry Ford
  • Perfection of means and confusion of ends seems to characterise our age. Albert Einstein 
  • If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. Lawrence J. Peter
  • If you don’t know where you are going, how can you expect to get there? Basil S. Walsh 
  • You are not likely to get anywhere in particular if you don’t know where you want to go. Percy H. Johnson 
  • What is the use of running when we are on the wrong road? Bavarian proverb
  • Fatigue dominates the lives of those who are living without direction and dreams. Robin Sharma
  • In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately, we become enslaved by it. Robert Heinlein 
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Mentally visualise your desired outcome to increase its power   

  • Turn on your dream machine. Create mental pictures of what you want. Peter. J. Daniels 
  • You must form a clear and definite mental picture of what you want. Wallace D. Wattles
  • If you don’t know where you are going, then how will you get there? VISUALISE! Make pictures in your mind. See the destination. Imagine your arrival. Dream in perfect detail. See yourself the way you want to be when you arrive. See yourself arriving. Make yourself a road map and study it every day until you know the way and the destination by heart. Bryce Courtenay
  • Begin to imagine what the desirable outcome would be like. Go over these mental pictures and delineate details and refinements. Play them over and over to yourself. Maxwell Maltz 
  • In my experience, there’s only one thing that will always steer you toward success: That’s to have a vision and to stick with it… Once I have a vision for a new venture, I’m going to ride that vision until the wheels come off. Russell Simmons
  • Combine your mental images with the emotion of desire to accelerate their realization. Brian Tracy
  • When constructing your visualizations, you should only use positive thoughts and intent, and you should see what you desire as already being yours. Jeffery A. Martin
  • VisualisationPower
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Questionsxxx

  • What’s your objective?
  • What is the desired outcome?
  • What are you trying to accomplish? Can you state it in a sentence or two?  Can you draw a picture of it? 
  • Can you make a map of where you need to go and the things you’ll need to do?
  • Can you visualise yourself reaching your objective?
  • How is what I’m doing right now, going to help me to get to where I’m trying to get to?
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