The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

May 18Mind the End

Nothing is more clear than that every plot, worth the name, must be elaborated to its denouement before anything be attempted with the pen. It is only with the denouement constantly in view that we can give a plot its indispensable air of consequence, or causation, by making the incidents, and especially the tone at all points, tend to the development of the intention.

Edgar Allan Poe—“The Philosophy of Composition” (1846)

We can sum up Poe's reading today with this wise nugget: “begin with the end in mind.”

But imagine if Poe was charged with writing a book that never ended or at least was intended to run for a good 20 or 30 years. How tidy would his denouement, his final scene be?

There's no doubting the wisdom of this “mind the end” advice, but entrepreneurs must remain both equally focused on the destination and detached from the details, allowing too for sweeping changes in the achievement. (Imagine the challenge for Poe's editors in that scenario.)

Let's call this required skill “detached focus.”

You set your objective, but then you let go and get to work on what needs to be done today. In other words, you don't lose focus; you simply focus on the right things right now. If you set a goal of $1 million in revenue, you don't spend all day looking at your bank balance; you go about tilling the soil, planting the seeds, and building the irrigation canals, because a good gardening metaphor is always useful.

Focus on performing today's most pressing need. ...