Start as You Mean to Go On (Advice that isn’t just for new parents)

Posted on March 24th, 2009, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

My wonderful coach, Dr. Joelle Jay, shared an idea with the rest of us in our MasterMind group last week. Although she is the only mom in the group, it sure made sense to the rest of us.

“Start as you mean to go on.”

Joelle told us that this is what is recommended for parents. For example, if you intend to have your daughter sleep in her own bed, then you start out with her sleeping in her own bed. If you intend to have your son try a little bite of everything on the plate, then you start by having him take a tiny taste of each item.

However, for us as adults…whenever we’re starting anything new, which is constantly (at least as far as my experience goes), we need to be thinking about this same notion: Start as we mean to go on.

Get your goals in mind.
Get your structures set up to support that.
Let others know if it is going to have an impact on them.
and so on…

This is a brilliant idea and I wanted to share it with everyone, because it applies to parents, teachers, entrepreneurs, speakers, business owners, government officials, and so on.