Begin with the End in Mind

Begin With the End in Mind

Everyone should read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Habit two is “Begin with the end in mind.” It is a simple yet powerful habit, and I consider it the most important one. It is critically important for success in anything you do. You have to define what success actually is. You must define your goal.

When I was in practice, hundreds of patients told me they were trying to lose weight. When I asked what they were doing to lose weight, they often said they were eating better. Great. I’m glad they were eating better, but does eating better make you lose weight?

Begin with the end in mind. In this case, it’s to lose weight. Figure out how to do it. The Three Rules to Lose Weight and Keep It Off Forever, Second Edition is the best way, but many diet plans work. If you want to lose weight, get my book or any of the dozen other good ones. You can even read some medical studies yourself. You will never see anyone recommend eating better as the solution to being overweight. It is poorly defined and doesn’t work. If you eat six Big Macs a day and cut to five, you’re eating better, but you won’t lose weight. Skipping a snack here and there will not do it. Winging it without a plan won’t work. It takes a dramatic change.

Studies show that diets such as mine, where you minimize or eliminate the sugar and other carbohydrates that raise your sugar, cause weight loss. Cutting calories below 1200 a day works. Eating better doesn’t. Dieters without a real plan don’t really have weight loss as their end, though they may think they do. Their end is to eat better. If their goal were truly to lose weight, they would figure out what it takes and do it.

If you choose the calorie-counting plan, which I don’t recommend, your goal is not just to cut calories—the goal is to lose weight by cutting calories. (I know it sounds obvious, but keep your final goal in mind.) For most people, it takes a cut to less than 1200 calories per day. When I asked patients how many calories they were taking in, they often said, “less than 1200.” I asked if they measured, weighed, and counted everything they ate or drank. Very few ever did. If your goal is to lose weight, you should know whether you are on the path to success. Half-measures don’t work.

The same is true with exercise. If you want to get in shape, that should be the end in mind. If you do what most people do and walk more, what will you have accomplished? Not getting in shape. It takes more than that. Walking may be better than nothing, but if you walk a mile or two a day, you will not get in shape. (You won’t lose weight either.) There are many exercise programs to get in shape. There must be hundreds of websites and books on training programs. Find one that appeals to you and do exactly what it says.

Beginning with the end in mind doesn’t guarantee success, but it is necessary for nearly everything important. If you want a good job, you can’t simply go to college and expect employers to come to you. Figure out what it takes to get the type of job you want and do it.  

Whatever your goals are, decide what you want to accomplish and figure out how to get there. The rest is hard work and follow-through.