You Need to Start With the End in Mind

That was my Mom’s advice when I got married to Scott in 2013.

How I interpreted “start with the end in mind” was:

Consider your long-term goals before jumping into anything.

For example, did I really want to make elaborate breakfasts for Scott every day? No.

(And FWIW, Scott didn’t want me to do that either. He’s a yogurt-and-granola guy while I’m all about eggs.)

What I learned from the early days of my marriage and my mom’s advice is that if you don’t start with the end in mind, you can easily end up where you don’t intend to be.

That’s as true for relationships (and breakfasts) as it is for goals.

Including YOUR goal of becoming the author of a book.

It’s really easy to get distracted by what others are doing, what you think you “should” do, or what the easiest path forward seems to be.

Take self-publishing. A lot of authors think that you can self-publish a book and get a traditional publisher later on. But that’s not how it works 99.9999999999999% of the time. The exceptions people cite (like E.L. James) actually prove the rule.

(Trust me: there are SO many people out there with the wrong advice about publishing. I have head-desk moments every…