Why Begining with the End in Mind is Important
Lately during my trip in China, I met a friend who built schools in Tibet. He has been volunteering for nearly 20 years. He shared a very profound story on the importance of knowing the final outcome before taking any actions.
About 15 years ago, many of his students are dying from severe roundworm infection. The reason is that these students share the same river water with their life stocks. As such, many of them fell ill and did not live beyond 16 years old. Thus, he raised funds to setup pipes that separates the river water for life stocks and human consumption. His solution only lasted for 2 weeks, and the villagers revert back to their old habits.
He called his doctor friend and described his problem. The doctor suggested that the children to take a dose of medication twice a year. It prevents the children from falling sick. He raised more funds and got all the children the necessary medications. Interesting, the fund raiser for the medication is far lesser than the pipe project.
There is an important lesson behind this story. Sometimes, the solution is not as complicated as we imagined. No doubt the source of sickness is due to water contamination. The solution is having clean water. Given the cultural factor and daily habits, it is not a good solution. The actual outcome that we want is children not to die and stay healthy. By giving them medications, it allows them to maintain their lifestyle and ensure that they remain healthy.
When we look at our life, how many times our solution to our problems actually complicate matters? If you want to reduce your screen time, instead of installing time block apps. Just set up a rule to put away the phone by certain time of the day. We have to be precise on what we want before taking action. By knowing what we want, we can come up with the simplest solution.