I know you are probably wondering where this blog is going with a title like that? Have you ever heard the expression “Start with the end in mind” or “focus on the result you want”; in times of adversity this is what we must do. I use this effective yet simple tool throughout my daily life.

For example, back in late 2005; Tim and I decided to buy a Toyota Hiace Campervan Motorhome and go traveling. We’d pack all of our belongings in to a storage shed and hit the road. Now this trip took months of planning, 10 months in fact. We set a date that we would leave on our Adventure; regardless and I made a sleeps countdown and put it on the fridge. Every morning we’d get and while having breakfast we’d cross off another sleep. We started the countdown with 151 sleeps to go, it was such a huge number it seemed like we’d never get there.

What started out as an idea; just to jump in the camper and drive off into the sunset, turned into a… we need 2 x 50cc Scooter’s to take with us, in that case we’d better build a trailer (luckily Tim is a Fitter and Turner by Trade) to carry them. Now I’m not just talking about any old trailer either; Tim is a brilliant tradesmen and is well respected in the industry for his quality of work. This trailer was an all singing all dancing; cyclone 5 rated trailer. I have put in some pictures below so you can see. We spend hours together building our trailer; after work and on weekends in the months leading up to our departure. Yet every morning we’d get up and cross off another sleep.

I often reflect on the trailer building moment in our lives, we worked every moment together on it; I’d hold the end of the measure tape, or pass Tim the right spanner; or fold the sheets to the right angle and at the end of the project I had a new found respect for the work that Tim does. It was definitely a moment that bought us closer together.

As the departure date grew closer, we had a whole house to pack into a 4m x 3m x 3m storage shed and to this day I still don’t know how we managed to fit it all in there. There was mail redirections to organise; banking; registration etc. Yet every day we crossed off another sleep.

The point I’m making by sharing this with you is that by having the sleep countdown – we were only focused on the result and that result was to jump in the camper with nothing but each other and venture into the unknown. Had we not been focused with the end in mind; we probably wouldn’t have gone because the tasks involved to get there would’ve seemed too hard.

When you get in your car to drive to your friends house or to the local shops - where is your focus? You focus on your destination and take the necessary turns and round-abouts to get there. Your focus is not on the bugs on your windscreen is it?

So this week, lets turn those windscreen wipers on, get rid of those bugs and starting achieving the result you want in your life.

Have a great day!

Cheers Katie

Van and Trailer