The Plum Line

What do you want to be?

You’ve been asked this question since you were a child.  At the time, you picked what you loved or what was exciting to you.  You may have picked a fireman, astronaut or maybe the president of the United States.  As you get older you sometimes get caught up in the day-to-day activity of your job or business and lose sight of where you are going or what you or your company wants to be. 

One of my favorite books is the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.  I’ve gone back and re-read this book and referenced it many times for a source of inspiration and direction.  I was reminded today in a meeting of one of the 7 habits to being effective according to Covey and that’s “begin with the end in mind.” 

Knowing where you want to be in the end is such a powerful message.  Sometimes we get caught up working so hard on certain things that we don’t realize it’s not moving us in the direction of where we want to go.

What I learned in this meeting is the importance of asking the right questions to find out where you want to go.  Covey would say to imagine you’re at your funeral and think about what you want your friends or family members to say about you.  In business, your time frame may be a little shorter than that.  Today I’m thinking about our business and where I want it to be in the next three years.  Where do you want to be?  What do you want people to say about you when you’re gone?