If you are more than 22-years-old and you haven’t made the time to read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, then I have only one question to ask to you - what are you waiting for?! This is only the #1 Most Influential Business Book of the Twentieth Century, with more than 15 million copies sold!

As much as this post right now sound like a commercial for The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but trust me on this…it is not =). With this post I intend to share that one single habit which had the most profound impact on my life. Amongst all the habits mentioned in the book, by personal pick is begin with an end in mind.

Begin With An End In Mind

Quoting Stephen Covey directly from his book “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.”
The fundamental idea behind this habit is very simple . All the things (be it good or bad) are created twice: First in the mind and then in reality. This means, first we must get clarity on what we want and then we create it in reality. Ha..its rhymes too! =)

Let me give you a simple example. Think of building a house. Whats the primary step towards it? You discuss with your architect and discuss what you want to see. Then you make a blue print based on your discussion, right? You don’t just bring in the construction team and get it started, do you?! =) (well I hope not!) In that case why in the world we do that in our lives?!?!

After spending some time to cultivate this habit by consciously practicing it, I figured it’s absolutely stunning that how little time we spend getting a real clear picture of what we want  - whether it’s with a specific project at work or in our life in general. Ironically, we are typically MUCH better at planning a project at a job than planning a life to create a job we love. Make sense, say what.

Here I would like to suggest a very simple yet powerful exercise which helped me get clarity in my life. It helped me define the purpose of my life and re-shape my values.Take some time out. Find a peaceful spot and close your eyes. Imagine that you are going to the funeral of a loved one. Picture yourself getting out of the car and walking into the chapel. You see flowers and other people around. Feel the sadness of loss. You walk to the front and look into the casket and suddenly come face to face with yourself.

You become aware of that this is your funeral. Feel that. You hear people talking about you. You see people dropping notes for you. Now inquire yourself. What do you want your companions to say about you? What would you like your important half to write to you? What would you want to be remembered for? How would people feel when they wont find you around them? Take some time out right now/today/this week to reflect on this. Its one of the most powerful way to gain clarity on your highest values. This is called to begin with an end in mind and to gain clarity before we execute.

Before I end this post, here another quote from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”