Why do we focus so much on the task, its enormity and complexity, and give so little attention to the end state we are aiming for? If we spent more time focusing on the 'end in mind', then we would get the task done more effectively.
I experienced this truth in a surprising way a couple of months ago, when my wife and I were about to take a week's holiday. Rather than go away, we decided to stay at home and get rid of some junk. The results are as shown here: 
A full skip after clearing out a double garage that has not known a vehicle inside it larger than a bicycle for several years now, plus a shuffle through our loft meant we filled the skip, and it all felt very cathartic.
Now, the point about the end in mind was because at the same time I picked up a book about decluttering one's living environment-
"It's All Too Much: Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff" (Peter Walsh). In it the author explains that he advises people to pause before the purge by just imagining the room or living space in its ideal, decluttered stage. This visualisation process, this envisioning process then helps people to qualify whether an item 'belongs' in that space much more easily.
This is so true.
Product-based planning in PRINCE2 is so powerful because it gets planners to focus first not on the plan but on the end product, its features and so on. The Vision Statement in MSP is the keystone in supporting the principle of Envisioning and communicating a better future.
Maybe if we spent more time just imagining and sharing the end result we'd find the journey a lot more positive and effective.
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