Keeping the Target in Mind
Good morning. Let us turn to Chapter Four of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The fundamental principle discussed in this chapter can be applied more broadly. This principle is Begin with the End in Mind. I find the translation of this book somewhat lacking. The translator attempted to express the content clearly using the phrase Begin with the End in Mind. In essence, Begin with the End in Mind means keeping the target always in sight.
As the author mentioned in earlier chapters, the internal dictates the external, and the contents of the heart possess immense power. If we lack goals, ideas, and visions in our hearts, and merely wish to drift through life, our goals cannot unleash their intended force, or there are no goals at all. The immense power we unleash in our lives comes from within, from the force of faith within us, which surpasses human imagination.
Let us all reflect: When is our heart weak, and when is our faith feeble, that we suffer? What is faith? Faith is a wondrous thing. In my view, unclear goals, vague strategies, and incorrect methods are the key to all failures. Indeed, when goals are unclear, and one does not know what one is doing, one simply lives day by day, from a lowly wretch to a middling wretch, and finally becomes a dead wretch. Why a dead wretch? Because one finally dies!
When we speak of Begin with the End in Mind, we are speaking of keeping the target always in sight. The author opens by quoting former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: Compared to the power within, things outside matter little. The author raises the point of inner strength again, emphasizing it's importance. Whether a person has a target, and whether he keeps that target in mind, are key factors in determining the outcome of one's life. On the street, it is easy to find countless people with unclear targets. If we had X-ray vision, we would find that many people have unclear targets in their hearts and minds!
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is essentially about success. Success literature states that only two percent of people in the world succeed. This means that, at random, only two out of one hundred people clarify their targets, strategize effectively, and adopt the correct methods. The other ninety-eight percent have not clarified their targets.
In other words, if we are among the ninety-eight percent, then you should attend my class and read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. After reading it, you can squeeze into the two percent. Some may retort: No! I would make it 2.1 percent. We will not dispute this. My point is, are we the kind of person who keeps the target always in mind?
There is a term called wantonness, which we consider derogatory. Wantonness simply means that a person has no target and acts recklessly. The author opens by saying: Compared to the power within, things outside matter little. When you read this, do you associate it with Begin with the End in Mind? What can you surmise? The power generated by keeping the target always in mind is not comparable to external difficulties. External difficulties appear insignificant. Therefore, having heard this today, begin to reorganise your heart, because a target is a formidable thing.
A friend of mine works in a government department. They do not have much work. They have guaranteed income regardless of drought or flood. They do not need to earn money, as they already have it; they can print as much as they want. He told me that many people in his department develop cancer. I found this strange. In his department, there is not much to do all day – a newspaper and a cup of tea – yet it is a cancer hotspot. He asked me if he would be next. I said: You need to understand the principles behind disease. He asked what those principles are. I said: Laziness causes illness; when people are lazy, they tend to get sick.
I saw that a sister was often ill. When her pastor discussed ministry with me, I said she was lazy. Her pastor was surprised and asked how I knew. I said: If she were not lazy, would she have contracted this disease? Lazy people generally have no targets; they simply live to live. If there is no target within a person, there is no power. Therefore, the external manifestations become very powerful. For those of us who are ill, I suggest examining whether you are a lazy person.
We must know that keeping the target always in our hearts is important. Therefore, in the opening section, the author writes about the definition of Begin with the End in Mind. He then tells a story of a person attending his own funeral, imagining that he died many years later, and many people came to attend his funeral, and how he felt being among them.
Recently, I have often said that many things come to an end when a person dies, and a person's love and hate are all digested into the blue sky. Or, a person's hate and love are all melted into the vast ocean. Of course, some people enter a dog's belly after death; anything is possible! What is my definition of Begin with the End in Mind? It is to recognize the direction before doing anything, i.e., clear target, clear strategy, and correct method.
In one's life, the target is very important. If a person wanders around all day, he will not go far in his life. Like a headless fly, it may fly fast, but it cannot fly far; it can only fly around in circles. Let us carefully ponder today what kind of target we should set. Do not set a target that no one dares to criticize while you are alive, but everyone celebrates jubilantly after you die; that would be troublesome.
When we often think about the end of one's life, and then look at the things of this life, do they immediately become smaller? The answer is yes. Therefore, compared to the power within, things outside are insignificant. Are the many things we are entangled in today truly meaningful? This is why the target is so important.
When reading this book, I find that this passage by the author is well-written, but I always feel that it does not quite connect with the context. However, when one associates it with the end of one's life, what is our urgent task today? Some people become despondent, some desperately pursue something, and some do many, many things. Have you noticed that when you pursue and obtain something, you find it meaningless?
For example, I really wanted to own a car, with a cooler in it containing prawns and sea cucumbers, and a small beach table, and a small barbecue grill, so I could have a picnic at the beach. And then buy a hammock, tie the ropes to coconut trees, and lie on the bed, swaying back and forth, feeling super comfortable. Thinking, how great it would be to have a car!
Later, I actually bought a car, a hammock, a grill, a cooler, and a bunch of seafood and chicken wings, and arranged a picnic at the beach, but after coming back, I found it meaningless. I only used those things once and never again. Lying in the hammock, swaying back and forth, I was bitten by several big mosquitoes. I went to feed the mosquitoes! Later, I slowly realized that it was really meaningless.
One day, I finally figured it out: When I create something, I feel very content, and that contentment can last for some time. Although I had a picnic at the beach and swayed in the hammock, besides being bitten by a few mosquitoes, which was a deep impression, I still felt empty after the picnic.
Therefore, when you create value, it is a wonderful enjoyment. When you consume, without creating value, just living like that, although it is possible to eat, drink, and have fun, it is not sustainable. Do you think I discovered this rule well? Then I finally understood why a cup of tea and a newspaper have become a high-incidence area for cancer.
The Realisation of a Goal Begins with Conception
So the problem lies here, why is this the case? Because there is no goal or pursuit. You say, where would I have time to be sick? Where would I have time for a cup of tea and a newspaper? But I also think that would be a bit uninteresting. So in my mind, I already have a goal: I want to be a certain kind of person.
Do not think that I am fooling everyone. Serving is not about other people needing your service; it is about you needing to serve others. After you serve, you create a joy that lasts into eternity, because serving creates value. So today, let us put some effort into setting targets. Actually, the author did not write this chapter very well. If it were me, I would not write it this way. If I take enjoyment as a target, I will not actually find any enjoyment in the end.
Lazy people who work in the government generally only drink tea and read newspapers. Of course, not everyone who works in the government does this. Drinking tea and reading newspapers every day seems very enjoyable, but it is not very good, because the incidence of cancer is very high there. Then my friend asked me what to do. I told him to start learning from me and desperately create value. Later, after he implemented what I said, he found that he became very happy and blessed.
A target is a target that has not yet been achieved; once a target is achieved, it is no longer a target. After achieving a target, set a new target. For example, in China, we set the first Five-Year Plan in 1950, but do we need to go back to 1950 again this year to set a target? There is no need, because we are not trying to imitate the ancients.
How can a target be achieved? Targets are all written in the mind. For example, when we set plans for manufacturing, we write: Manufacturing 2025 Plan. No one would write a Manufacturing 1950 Plan. We are not creating history, but setting future targets, because targets are formed in the mind. The second paragraph of this chapter states: Anything is created twice. The author writes in a literary style. If I were to write it, I would write: Everything starts from the heart. Everything begins in the heart before it is realised, because planning and creating in the heart is important.
Set in your heart what kind of person you want to become in the future, instead of making decisions impulsively. I do not encourage you to just make a random decision. Setting targets must involve exploration, understanding, and design. If you are an executive in a company, you will often hear the term top-level design. If you are leading a company of 100,000 people, how do you manage it? If you have to arrange everyone's work, I think you may as well forget it.
Even if you arrange one person's work in one second, 100,000 seconds will pass, and you still cannot arrange everything in one second. If you arrange one person's work in one hour, 100,000 hours will not be enough. What should you do? You need to make a top-level design for this company in your mind. But has the target been achieved? Not yet. Is a person's career plan an accomplished career or an unaccomplished career? It is an unaccomplished one. Because the future career plan needs to be explored.
As the saying goes: Men fear entering the wrong profession, and women fear marrying the wrong man. Now, both men and women fear entering the wrong profession. Why? Because women do not get married anymore, so they will not marry the wrong man. If the job you choose becomes a sunset industry, or if your job is replaced by a robot, it will be troublesome. Taxi drivers are quite upset now, because after self-driving cars come out, you just sit in the car and tell the self-driving system where you want to go, and the car will take you to your destination. After you get out of the car, the car will drive away by itself. Perhaps there will be no driver occupation in the future.
I have a saw that needs a vacuum cleaner to suck up the sawdust next to it. Because there is a lot of dust after the saw is turned on. I gave him a name called Certified professional sharp, which translated into English is: Certified Professional Vacuum Cleaner Administrator. Today, I did one thing: I made a shelf, tied the vacuum cleaner to the shelf, and told him that I did not need him anymore. Because from today onwards, science and technology have replaced the Vacuum Cleaner Administrator, you have no work, you no longer need to manage the vacuum cleaner.
How did that shelf come about? It was first drawn in my mind, and then I made it with my hands. All creation is first created in the mind, which is called planning, and the outside is called implementation. So I often say, separate planning from implementation, and separate work from study. Should I write a book called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? If I also write one, although it may be better than what others have written, it may not sell as well. In this second section, the author says Everything needs to be created twice. I understand this sentence, but you may need to continue reading, because that is how books are written.
The first paragraph writes that a fundamental principle of Begin with the End in Mind is that everything is created twice. Everything we do is first conceived in the mind, i.e., the first creation in the mind, and then put into practice, i.e., the second creation in the physique. This book is quite circuitous. Actually, what the author means is to keep the target in mind. Before the target is realised, set the target on the target, and then constantly ponder it.
What do you think if I said: Everything must go through two destructions? Not good, because the first destruction is in the mind, and the second destruction is in practice. If someone says: I am going to plan to blow up the bank, I am going to plan to release poison gas in the Tokyo subway station! These are not the targets we want to set. What I mean is: Everything has to be created twice, which refers to valuable things. If a person just wants to ruin himself, he does not need to do anything, not even one creation.
The next paragraph talks about: Proactive Design or Passive Acceptance. The previous chapter talked about being proactive, because being proactive is important. This chapter is also connected to being proactive. Do you still understand what it means to be proactive? Designing is proactive and comes from the heart, not something that is forced in from the outside, because things forced in from the outside are useless. Proactive design is very important.
If a person succeeds in corrupting his child, it must be by making the child exceedingly passive. When you make a person very passive, you don't have to do anything, and you succeed in corrupting him. That is, stimulate the initiative in the child, let him form his own will, vision, dreams, goals, and form something he wants to create in the future. These are all his own initiative, he will constantly ponder, research, and explore, and one day he will form a goal in him, and this goal will release power.
My job is to release faith, dreams, and vision. This job is good! Just like I said to a child: You will become a very remarkable person in the future, I often release vision. Is this effective? Sometimes it is, sometimes it is not! What if it doesn't work? If it doesn't work, I will first tear down the wrong dreams and visions in him, and then rebuild them.
What are the two creations related to? You create your vision and dreams in your mind, and then you need a group of people to complete this great vision and dream with you, and you need to pass on your vision and dream. Then many people can share the same vision and dream with you, the whole team is built up, and then everyone works together.
What is the responsibility of a leader? If you are a leader, like our great leader Chairman Mao, with the dream of a new China, led a large number of skilled craftsmen to build a new China, this is Chairman Mao's responsibility as a leader. What is management for? Management is after you have formed a dream and vision, you have to implement such a dream and vision, what is the first step, what is the second step....
The author is talking about two creations, I am talking about three creations: clear goals, clear strategies, and correct methods. I think what I said seems a little more straightforward, and the three points I said are very effective. The goal needs to be outlined very clearly, the method is just implementation, and the strategy is between the goal and the method.
Many leaders can set a small goal, such as: earn 100 million first. Although you set a small goal, but without a strategy, the method cannot be used. Why are we always frustrated in doing things today? It is not that there is no goal in the heart, nor that there is no vision and dream in the heart, but that there is no strategy and method. Without goals, strategies and methods, and wanting to build a new China, that is to carry out revolution with your head tied to your belt.
Some people talk very interestingly: set a small goal first, earn it for a month, and fool the boss for a month first, this is his goal. His goal is also very good, he can fool the boss, fool him for a month is a month, this is a digression. What I mean is that creation may be two, or three, or even four. What I mean is: the author divides leadership and management in this way. If according to my method, first set a goal, implement a strategy, and find a suitable method, it will be better to do so.
For example, if I want to develop a software, every line of code of the software must be written. If I want to do a renovation, every nail must be screwed in by myself, and every board must be fastened by myself. That is, what is everyone lacking? What is lacking is the ability to clearly outline things in the mind. The plan is not floating in the clouds, the plan must be very down-to-earth. I find that many people's heads are in the sky, their feet are on the ground, and the middle is empty. That is a separated person, like a distributed system of a computer. This is too dangerous, the head is in the sky, the feet are on the ground, and the body does not know where it is floating. If everyone is like this, who knows which head is placed on which body, which body is connected to which foot, then it will be troublesome.
Therefore, to do things well, to be a leader, first of all, you must have clear goals and clear and correct methods. The word clear is extraordinary, not just messing around, but having a clear strategy. As I speak, I am not talking about what the author wrote, I am sorry, I am talking about my own. But I think I speak better than him, I have to speak even if I am embarrassed.
Rewrite the script of our life
I talk about rewriting the script of life every day, because this is my job, my job is to change people's destiny, this job is good! I am not a fortune teller, I am a fate changer. For example, people with bad fate find that after visiting a fortune teller, they come to me, and I have a solution. I can rewrite the script of life and change people's destiny.
For example, if you were worth a thousand dollars before you came to me for training, you are worth two thousand after you come to me; if you were worth two thousand dollars before, you are worth four thousand after you come to me, isn't this a change? This sounds and feels great, very real. I used to recognize good and evil all day long, and my interpersonal relationships were extremely chaotic. Now that I don't recognize good and evil, my interpersonal relationships have become more and more harmonious. I used to be a loser in the company, but now I have become a leader, that's great!
I do these things all day long. Why? This is my destiny! To borrow the words from the Bible: winning people is like catching fish. winning people is like catching fish, is to rewrite the script of life. How to rewrite the script of life? I let you believe in yourself as a very powerful person. You will say: In fact, I am not a powerful person. It doesn't matter, the fact is not powerful.
The reality in real life cannot compare with our vision and goals in our hearts. Moreover, having a vision and goal in the heart makes it clearer and clearer, not according to the facts. Facts cannot determine people's future, people's faith can create the future. Today, write a script of life in your mind, what kind of person I will become in the future. Then you will find that things seem to be moving in the direction of your set goals, which is to rewrite the script of life in your mind.
If you write a script and you don't believe it yourself, it's not writing a script of life. So we must learn to dream today. We can't decide the dreams we have after falling asleep, and we may not be able to have the same dreams as Joseph. But it doesn't matter, we can open our eyes and start dreaming during the day. Outline a dream in your head, it's called a dream!
So when we start to have a goal, the author writes a personal mission statement, but I don't think a personal mission statement is effective, and I never write this thing. Because I think about it every day, every month, and every year, do I need to write out a personal mission statement? No need! Because I write it on my heart. In fact, the Bible also says so, God wants to write His words on our hearts, not engraved on our skin.
When we constantly brew inside, the goals inside will become clearer and clearer, and then we begin to make up our minds to be a certain kind of person. There are so many such examples that they cannot be finished. People must have faith in God, what is impossible for man is possible for God. So, you have a dream, and then constantly dream and conceive, the goal will become clearer and clearer. How does the goal become clearer? Because God is a God of revelation.
I worked all night last night, and a sister called me when I was going to sleep the next morning. She said: I have a very exciting testimony to share with you. If I told her that I hadn't slept yet at this time, it might hit this sister. I said to this sister: I would love to hear it. She said: There is a sister among us, the place where she is located has encountered a drought, and as a result, this year's autumn harvest, the yield per acre of other people's land is 200 kilograms, and the yield per acre of her land is 400 kilograms, which is a double harvest!
This matter is so exciting, but this matter was not done by this sister, but by God. But why was this matter done on her? Everyone has the same land, and they are all farming in the same place, one piece connected to another, why is the harvest of others 200 kilograms, but the harvest of this sister is 400 kilograms? If you let me explain it, how can I explain it? If you look for the reasons from fertilization, rain, etc., you will not be able to explain it clearly in the end. The best explanation is that God helped her. Why did God help her? Because she believes that God will help her and bless her. So this sister with such faith, eventually became a reality.
Today, the book we read is written about human methods, but what I tell you is God's method, of course God's method will be much better. So, as for what to write and what not to write, we must have a belief in our hearts. This belief is that God created me, and I am a person who has God's glorious image. So, the double harvest is great. This sister also told me that she always receives money for no reason. For example, she invested tens of thousands, and today she suddenly received a message that people gave her ten times the profit, where can this be justified? Could it be that if you invested 100,000 ten years ago, it will definitely become 500,000 today? Some people invested 500,000, and as a result, they got nothing today, and the money is gone. In contrast, there is a difference of many times.
Who did this? It was all done by God. So I often tell everyone, believe in God, God is faithful. But the reply always says that they can't do it. Do you have to wait until you think you can do it before things will be accomplished? In fact, only when you can't do it, God will work on you. If you think you can do it, God will not look up to you at all.
The most important thing is to set a goal that pleases God
Establish a vision, establish a goal, but never establish a selfish goal that angers God. If your goal is to earn 100 million, someone must lose 100 million. There are so many resources in this world, if resources are in your hands, you may become an evil capitalist. If you become an evil capitalist, the iron fist of socialism will definitely deal with you, and the goal cannot be set like this.
If your goal is just to enjoy, and the people around you have to be your servants, and you also want to ascend the throne and be the emperor in the village. Giving you the whole village may not be as good as the palace. But there are really people who ascend the throne in the village, so anything can happen in this world. So in the end, people have to deal with you even if they don't want to deal with you. You have ascended the throne, isn't that treason?
Never set goals casually, establish a goal that pleases God, this is called Mingding Destiny, we have to know what we are here to do. We live our lives, putting all kinds of things in the center, taking the spouse as the center, the family as the center, the work as the center, the enjoyment as the center, the religion as the center, talked a lot, and then see what your center is, the author also attached a table, but I did not look at this table carefully, but the last thing written is to take the principle as the center.
Taking principles as the center, today we must see through what it means to live. We see through what it means to live, we will adhere to a principle, that is, the word of God. With the word of God, we live according to the word of God, and the goal is very clear, this is our Mingding Destiny. Once we put God in the center, and then we live according to the word of God, other things become small resources to complete our Mingding Destiny when we come into the world. Maybe it is an obstacle, maybe it is a reason for victory.
The author analyzed so much, it is better not to read it. Then he talked about the left brain and the right brain, and I can't tell whether it is right or wrong, just read it. When we start to have a goal, and then we start to implement it. When we start to set a goal that pleases God, you will definitely see the work God does in you and the glory that is manifested. Whether we like it or not today. Man proposes, God disposes, this is not said by Christians, nor is it said in the Bible, this is what the Chinese ancestors summed up after generations of experience. Since man proposes, God disposes, is it very necessary to please God?
I think clear goals, clear strategies, and correct methods are still a theory. But in the specific implementation process, I want to give everyone a concept, the goal cannot be divorced from reality. For example, someone sets a goal, I want to seek world peace. I advise him to forget it, and first see if he is a person who seeks world peace. Someone else said they want to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and I also advise him to forget this goal. Because no matter how you look at him, you can't see that he can win the Nobel Peace Prize. We should not set such goals when we have nothing to do, we should start setting some realistic goals.
No matter how long the goal is, it must be transformed into: Set a small goal for tomorrow today. This week, I want to think about what problem to solve next week. Isn't this very realistic? We must deal with the problem of being ambitious in our hearts. Whether this person has a fifty-year plan, a five-year plan, or a one-year plan in his heart, it must be closely related to what he will do tomorrow, which is called being down-to-earth.
So there is a saying: thousands of roads are thought of at night, and the original road is taken in the morning. The night is full of visions and dreams, but the next day I still swipe Douyin and play games, and go home at night to continue to have strange dreams, and as a result, I still muddle through the days on the third day. How can such a person not be sad?
I boldly make a prediction to you, if you live very uncomfortably, it is because you have gone the wrong way. That is, the head is in the sky, the feet are on the ground, and the body is floating in mid-air, which is a broken life. What should I do? Always be down-to-earth. Farmers sow seeds in the spring and can only harvest in the autumn, and they have to water and fertilize in the summer. If you don't sow seeds in the spring, don't water and fertilize in the summer, you can only harvest grass in the autumn, and you can only eat grass in the winter.
Don't ask God why this is the case, because you are playing fake with God. When you believe, you begin to move forward in a down-to-earth manner, and you will surely see how satisfying and joyful it is to walk with God. Being uncomfortable is not an option for us who have vision and goals. The fourth chapter of this book is finished. Although it is reading other people's books, the content is all my own. Please bear with me.
I want to remind everyone: No matter what book you read, you cannot accept it blindly. If you feel that you don't understand after reading this chapter, it may be that the author did not write it clearly, so how can you understand it? If you don't understand it, it doesn't matter, just read what you understand. So reading should be selective, and it is normal for some places to be bad. In the future, when you read books, never forget to read selectively.