The End – SummitLife Today: Thursday, September 20, 2012
Home / Leadership Development / The End – SummitLife Today: Thursday, September 20, 2012

Begin with “The End” in mind.  This is a great leadership principle I learned from Stephen Covey.  Having a clear vision and understanding about what success looks like tomorrow is essential for taking the right steps today.  At the end of the day, you need to know what defines success.  Try using the “Five W’s” (Who, What, Where, Why, When) in order to ask yourself the right questions.  The answer to “How” is much easier if you ask the “Five W’s” first.

Here are some great questions to ask to help you create an image of what success might look like:  Who are my customers?  What do they need most from me and my team?  Where do I need to look for my customers?  When would they most likely need my product or services?  Why should they do business with me?  Asking the right questions will help you begin to define success.  If you are “beginning with the end in mind”, you will also have to determine what “The End” is for you.  Is it the end of the day?…the end of the week?…the end of the month?…the end of the year?

For the Christian leader, I believe “The End” is the transition point when we pass from our temporal life on earth to our eternal life in heaven.  “The End” is really the beginning of when there will be no end.  The Apostle Paul gives us some helpful insight into what success looks like not only in “The End” but also for how we should be doing today.

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.  Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.  (Colossians 3:23-24)

Imagine Jesus looking at you and saying: “Well done my good and faithful servant.”  That is a pretty powerful image of what true success will look like in “The End”.  Think of how you might ask yourself the right questions today to help you take the right steps in that direction.  You might ask yourself questions like these:  Who do I really serve?  What would Jesus want me to do in my situation?  Where could I possibly go that Jesus would not be with me?  When should I seek His wisdom?  Why have I been entrusted with all that I have?  In “The End”, what you do today really counts.  Let me encourage you to live with an eternal purpose today by keeping “The End” in mind.  You will discover that your rewards are not only in the future.  You will also feel rewarded today.

“I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

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