Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind

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In article one and article two, we reviewed Covey’s 7 Habits of Effective people and the First Habit (Be Proactive). We understood how alignment of actions with natural principles, balance of production and production capacity are important. In this post, we will look at the second habit which is “Begin with the End in Mind”. This is the second habit associated with the self.
            “Begin with the End in Mind” means that we need to understand our destination clearly. This is important since it ensures that we take steps to go in the correct direction. Imagine that we are at Bangalore and we want to go to Roorkee. Unless and until we have the destination (Roorkee) in our mind, we cannot select the correct route map that will take us to Roorkee.

Dr. Charles Garfield has done extensive research on peak performers both in athletics and business. His research showed that most of the world class athletes and peak performers in business are all visualizers. They see, feel and experience it before actually doing what it takes them to succeed in their fields.  Simply stated, they begin with the end in mind.  For example an Indian Victory over West Indies in a one day international at Berbice, in West Indies, gave the inspiration and vision to Kapil Dev, that the Windies were beatable. The rest of course is history when India beat the Windies twice in 1983 in England and lifted the world cup.
Hope you enjoyed this post. In the next post, we will look at the 3rd  habit which is “Put First Things First”.

Reference: 25th Anniversary Edition “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey.

Read about the third habit here

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40 thoughts on “Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind

  1. A brilliant post and especially the point that any idea gets worked on twice, once in the brain and once when its executed.

  2. Your post recalls me all the books of Management Guru Peter Drucker , well said deciding the destination is the first step towards the goal completion.

  3. What a wonderful read this morning. I have started my own blog and your article does give me food for thought . Mission and Vision statements are definitely something which should be clearly put for any startup.
    #damurureads #myfriendalexa

  4. nice post on the 2nd habit of Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. Indeed, without a destination, any direction is a waste of effort because its only going to lead us to “nowhere”. It’s a beautifully detailed out post on the topic 🙂

  5. The book is the bestseller for years and agrees or not the book does get many re-reads too. Yet, simplifying the chapters for easier understanding and application is commendable.

  6. This is one of the books added by my husband in our bookshelf and has been there ever since. Your post now inspires me to take it out… a great effort by you at simplifying and contextualizing!

  7. I have loved the book by Stephen Covey and have carried it around with me for a couple of years. Thanks to your post, I got a fresh perspective and a recap.

  8. This is a practical and helpful post. The connection between leadership and management is well explained with easy examples.

  9. Visualizing and living the destination before actually reaching there is a tough task!! It’s like living a dream….

  10. Wow… That’s a very lovely analysis… I haven’t read the book yet but this post has inspired me to get my copy soon

  11. This is a great post that pays tribute to an even greater book. I’d received this book as soon as joined for my induction training at work. It’s a must-read.

  12. I read this book very long back, being responsible (able to respond) and begin with end in mind are the two habits that stayed with me.

  13. This is one of my favourite books. I loved the article a lot . To think of end result and then plan is a great strategy
    #tmmreads #myfriendalexa

  14. Wow! This is my favourite book. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey. I cannot begin to describe how much I’m inspired by this book. Thanks for sharing this. #MyFriendAlexa #CloudandSunshineReads

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