Your biggest enemy isn’t somewhere ‘out there’.
Your biggest enemy is much closer – right between your ears.
Its voice is constant, clear and often consistent.
It says:
“You cannot do it!”
To counter or reinforce it, you need something else. Like…
A personal mission statement.
When I was 28 years old, I read Stephen Covey’s ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People‘ and heard about the importance of having one.
An aspirational promise you make to yourself.
Something that inspires and motivates you.
Fires you up, and keeps you going.
Over a few weeks, I drafted, revised and distilled mine down to this:
“I will NOT accept a child dying. I am happily creating a sustainable, steadily improving process for academic, technical, technological and social growth, so every child in India has access to affordable, high quality heart healthcare, and 10,000 children or more receive heart surgery a year. In this way I am successfully eliminating CHD (congenital heart disease) one patient at a time.”
The attached photo shows a tattered decades-old note that I carry in my wallet.
To take out and read from time to time.
To counter that quiet, insistent inner voice.
A voice that’s always in doubt. Pessimistic and realistic. Eager to make excuses for failure.
And silently rejoicing whenever it’s right.
For 20+ years, I was able to persist against all odds only because that tiny, torn scrap of paper was my compass – guiding me along a path.
It helped silence that inner voice.
And reminded me constantly of an ambitious if unreal dream.
Nudged me towards a worthy if futile goal.
Several years later, in a lovely book by Guy Kawasaki called ‘Rules For Revolutionaries‘, I learned about another powerful counter to that inner voice.
A personal mantra.
This one is shorter. Snappier. Gets straight to the point.
You won’t even need to write it down.
Because it’s easy to remember.
Mine is just 4 words…
Be Kind. Help Others.
Looks kind of basic and simple, right?
This mantra has guided most of my decisions and choices – for almost 20 years now!
😯
I even have a slightly modified one for social media.
It says:
Write books. Raise funds. Connect people.
Useful, because whenever I catch myself wasting time on Facebook or Twitter, a glance at my header graphic reminds me why I’m there.
So…
Do you have any preferred methods to silence or counter that inner voice?
Have you ever used a personal mission statement or mantra yourself?
If not, it’s worth creating one now.
Why not do it over the weekend?
🤔