Very often, when we’re too focused on “winning the battle” we lose sight of our original mission and end in mind.  I’ve been reading articles after articles and reports after reports about the Gaza-Bound Aid Ship, and one thing has been troubling me - Has the “activist” lost sight of the original goal?

First Mavi Marmara was captured by the Israel Navy, and all the big news surrounding it.  While the rest of the world started condemning the action (of which I condemn too), what was more amazing is the fact that the “activist” decided that Rachel Corrie Aid ship should continue in that mission too despite Israel having openly announced that they will stop all aid ship that approch Gaza.And in justifying the need to continue the journey, some activist claims that “We’re fulfilling our obligations and the wishes of the donors to ensure that Aid reaches the Gaza victims”.  So I guess that’s the original mission - To ensure that all aid reaches the victims in Gaza.

The next question is - Have the mission been accomplished?  The report didn’t quite tell, but I’m guessing the answer is NO!  The ships are captured once again and then the “activist” are celebrated like “heroes” when mission isn’t accomplished.  And then it is followed by a prominent politician telling us that “Gaza aid ship incident a moral victory for M’sia“.  What moral victory are we talking about?  The victory of losing the aid and probably strenghtening the Israel Navy?

That’s the difference between effectiveness and efficiency, and also shows what happens when we lose sight of our end-in-mind.  If we’re not strong enough to persevere and to keep reminding ourselves about the end-in-mind, we’re more likely to crumble during tough times and go for the “wrong victory”.  Just like in any business or personal relationships, if we’re not ready to take time to be effective, we’re more likely to just fight back and declare war in any minor misunderstanding - where we should in fact be looking at each issue with an objective mind.

Moving ahead bringing Rachel Corrie to Gaza is nothing more than trying to complete the mission efficiently,losing sight of goal and winning the wrong victory, going through the quickest path so that “mission accomplished” could be announced.

Our former prime minister (despite sometimes making quite controversial remarks) have this time made a very wise statement - “A new assessment on the effectiveness of shipping humanitarian relief aid to Gaza has to be made to ensure the aid reaches the people of Gaza“.  That’s indeed true!  Why not keep the aid, return to shore somewhere else, and start thinking about a new way to reach the people of Gaza?

So before we celebrate these activist as heroes, let’s take some time and think about whether they’ve accomplished the mission (besides showing the fact that they dare to take challenges and face danger for the sake of it).  And before we start donating again “for a meaningful cause”, take some time to think about how much of your donation will reach the intended receipient.

And for us in life, in the midst of all the challenges we face, ask ourselves “are we still keeping sight of our end-in-mind?”

Lessons from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to be applied here?

• Begin with the End-In-Mind (Habit 2)
• Production vs. Production Capability
• Effectiveness vs. Efficiency

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Tags: 7 Habits, Charity, effectiveness, efficiency, end-in-mind, gaza, goal setting, Habit 2, Rachel Corrie

This entry was posted by Clayton J.C Tan on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 9:46 am and is filed under Achieving Dreams, Business Strategies, Charitable Organizations, Malaysian Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.