Beginning With the End in Mind

I think this is one of the best mindsets to adopt. Take 60 seconds to ponder your life and what you want it to be like when it ends. What is your legacy going to be? Is it going to be that you left a ton of money, but no eternal impact? Will your funeral have to be held in a stadium to fit all the people your life touched? In your last moments, will you be at peace, with few regrets, about life on Earth? Will you be nervously excited about where you’re going to beyond death? Will your kids truly know you? Will you have lived a rich life in the service of others, or just in service of yourself?

These are deep questions right!? Almost makes your skin crawl a little bit. But that’s the point folks. Slow down for a second and think about these things. Life is fleeting, so don’t get so caught up in making a living that you forget to make a life. 

Now that we got the deep stuff out of the way, which I sincerely pray that you address first before we move on, this same mindset can be used in many areas of your life. Think you could use this concept to address your health? I think you know the answer to that question already. Think about your health for a second. Begin with the end in mind. Does your life end at 50 because you seriously neglected your health? Is that how it ends? Do you see yourself at 90 still walking, driving, and serving in your community?

I realize that we are not in full control of the outcome of our lives; however, we do have choices that will drastically improve our chances of a long, healthy life. This blog post is not meant to condemn anyone, but nowadays, there’s an increasing number of sensitive people out there that find offense in just about everything. Good thing I have thick skin.

So if you could build your best self in your personal health, what does that look like? Write it down. What clothes are you fitting into? How do you feel? What are you able to do? What type of foods do you eat? What is your confidence like? What does your fitness look like?

The reason I’m taking you, the reader, through this exercise of asking you a lot of questions is to help you realize that with few exceptions to the contrary, you want better for your health. I could be wrong, but I do not think people answer those questions above and think of their best self as sedentary, carrying too much weight, feeling sluggish, having lifestyle related disease, and not being able to look in the mirror.

Begin with the end in mind in all areas of your life. Remember, you have a choice in how your life shakes out. If you delegate all those decisions to others and just fall into the busy trap of life, you will find yourself simply swimming downstream like most people. Develop the strength to swim upstream.