3 mottos to live by

I’m not exactly the “start my day with a smart motivational quote published on Facebook” type of girl. It’s rare that something really resonates with me or has a long-lasting, powerful effect on my mind or attitude.

However, I do believe in the power of some very carefully chosen personal mottos.

It’s easy to get distracted even from our most important goals and values. Personal mottos and mantras are the torches that guide us right back on track. They can easily snap us back into the right mind frame, reignite our focus and motivation. (Check out my favorite read on the power of personal mantras and why you should definitely have one)

But don’t just choose a random motto. They only work if they are really personal,  playing on our dreams, personalities, strengths, and even weaknesses.

My mottos are aligned with my values – making the most out of everything, reminding myself that it’s essential to get out of my comfort zone, and not letting fear and self-doubt get in my way.

I came across this above quote in Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In (which I highly recommend to all women hustlers out there). In an instant, I knew it hit something deep inside me, and that feeling never went away. This is the mantra that is always at the back of my mind, the one thing I go back to constantly.

I’m a huge believer that fear is one of the powerful hurdles we have to conquer in this life. It’s also one of the most difficult ones to tackle. But there is something deeply liberating in realizing and admitting that we fear the unknown, and we fear failure – though we shouldn’t really, as there’s no improvement without it, but that’s another issue. And this simple question just gives me the right ammunition to face those fears and (maybe) get over them.

Yes, I know that this is a Nike slogan. But that just shows that I’m not an intellectual snob when it comes to the source of personal mottos. And it’s a great productivity mantra. Whenever I feel like I’m lacking energy or something just feels too difficult and I don’t even know where to start (so I of course put if off), I tell myself to, well, just start.

Often starting something is the most daunting part of a project. It can be either because it’s a task we hate or because it seems too challenging. So we put it off, procrastinate, think about it. The longer we think about it, the more difficult it seems. It’s a vicious cycle. But most of the times, just doing kinda solves the problem.

Mark Twain quotes are probably just as famous as his books. He definitely had a way with words. While I shortened it a little, the whole quote goes like this:

I often play a little mind experiment: what will I say about my life when I get old? What will be memorable? What will stand out? What will I say was important and what I shouldn’t have cared about?

It’s not a completely heart-warming or necessarily positive mind game. But it makes all the difference.

Because I want my life to be the best I can ever have. Full of memories, full of experiences. I want to be able to say that “at least I tried”.

No regrets, no missed opportunities, no what ifs.

What is your own personal motto?