Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Begin With the End in Mind
Begin with the end in mind. Classic guidance. Have a vision, a sense of what it will look, feel, smell, taste and sound like when it’s as good as can be, as good as you can get it - so that you’re proud and satisfied. How detailed should this vision be? How specific? Will it be blue or green? Round or flat? Feel smooth or rough? Excited or calm? Smell of the sea or jasmine? Taste salty or sweet? Sound harmonious or off key? Violins or cellos, or both? At some point these details must be specified. But if done too soon, they can cramp, even kill, creativity and with it, the best possible outcome for all concerned.
This is where intention comes in. Intention sets the tone, the broad parameters for the specifics, and being as I’m writing this during hurricane season I’ll say – parameters = the cone of uncertainty, or the ballpark. Intention says, “the highest and best for all concerned, on schedule, in budget, compassionately, respectfully and creatively.”
Begin with the end in mind. Ask, “What do I want to come of this, what is my intention?” Do you mean it for the highest and best for all concerned? For some of those concerned? Who? Under what circumstances? If no intention is set first, if we begin without the end in mind, the situation just seems to happen, and makes no sense until is has already happened. Then you look back at it, and try to piece together what it must have meant. And you will be wrong. Not only is your judgment in the past, but you have no idea what should happen. No goal was set with which to bring the means into line.
The value of deciding in advance what you want to happen is simply that you will perceive the situation, any situation you find yourself in – so called ‘good’ or so called ‘bad’, as a means to further your intention. You will therefore make every effort to overlook what interferes with the accomplishment of your objective, and concentrate on everything that helps you meet it. This is the ultimate in ‘positive’ thinking. Try it!
This is where intention comes in. Intention sets the tone, the broad parameters for the specifics, and being as I’m writing this during hurricane season I’ll say – parameters = the cone of uncertainty, or the ballpark. Intention says, “the highest and best for all concerned, on schedule, in budget, compassionately, respectfully and creatively.”
Begin with the end in mind. Ask, “What do I want to come of this, what is my intention?” Do you mean it for the highest and best for all concerned? For some of those concerned? Who? Under what circumstances? If no intention is set first, if we begin without the end in mind, the situation just seems to happen, and makes no sense until is has already happened. Then you look back at it, and try to piece together what it must have meant. And you will be wrong. Not only is your judgment in the past, but you have no idea what should happen. No goal was set with which to bring the means into line.
The value of deciding in advance what you want to happen is simply that you will perceive the situation, any situation you find yourself in – so called ‘good’ or so called ‘bad’, as a means to further your intention. You will therefore make every effort to overlook what interferes with the accomplishment of your objective, and concentrate on everything that helps you meet it. This is the ultimate in ‘positive’ thinking. Try it!
