Why You Need A Personal Mantra

I have a question for you. Do you have a personal mantra? If not, here are my thoughts on why you need a personal mantra.

After returning to my full-time personal assistant role, I had a lot less free time on my hands. Working full-time and blogging on the side meant I had to do some serious thinking about how I spent my time.

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More importantly, I had to examine where I was making the wrong choices and what behaviors were holding me back.

I had to shine a spotlight on my flaws if I wanted to move forward and get things done.

Upon self-examination, I realized I was letting fear dominate my actions, I was sometimes lazy, and I could, without a large dose of self-discipline, waste a lot of time.

Which led me to adopt a personal mantra.

Don’t be scared
Don’t be lazy
Don’t waste time

To make the most of this personal mantra, I realized I had to dig a little deeper into each statement.

Don’t be scared   

Often when I am procrastinating, putting something off, or generally not doing something I know I want to do, I generally realize there is some (often well-hidden) element of fear percolating under the surface.

The way I overcome fear now is with a baby-step approach. I make myself work on one very small part of a project, do that well, and then take a short break. If I am feeling a bit anxious in that break, I do something to calm my nerves like meditate, play with the cat, or even do something physical like take a shower.

Then I have another session of getting work done. If I am really nervous about something, it might take a few short breaks to get traction, but a lot of the time, after I have been concentrating on something for a while, I will get in the flow and keep working on it for a longer period without a break.

Once it’s finished, it’s a great feeling.

Don’t get caught up in the fear itself; get addicted to the euphoria that comes with completing the action and moving through the fear.

Related post – Are You Making Fear-Based Decisions? It’s time to Choose Love over Fear 

Don’t be lazy

I hate to admit this, but before I started working with a coach many years ago, I was quite lazy. I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t moving forward, yet I failed to do much about it. The truth is, back then, I would start things but fail to finish them. No wonder my life wasn’t moving forward!

Now it’s a different story.

I do still have my occasional bout of laziness. The good part now is that I can easily motivate myself back into work mode.

Related post – Is Laziness Stopping You from Reaching Your True Potential?

Don’t waste time

I’ve been trying to become an early riser. My specific reason for this was to get some writing and blogging done before heading off to work.

When I first started getting up early, I had a clear picture of what I wanted to achieve. Unfortunately, some days I found myself completely unorganized, and instead of working through my to-do list that would have a positive effect on my workload, I started scrolling through Instagram or Facebook.

Before I knew it, I had spent well over an hour doing nothing of any significance.

Getting up at 5.30 in the morning turned out to be the easy part. Making the most out of my precious time in the morning turned out to be the trickier part. It was more important not to waste time in the mornings.

Related post – How to Be More Self-Aware and Why It’s Important

While I was using my new mantra to my benefit,  it dawned on me that I wasn’t particularly keen on the use of the word don’t in each statement.

After all, sometimes when we focus on what we don’t want, it tends to shift us further in that direction.

I needed a positive plan of action to counterbalance each statement.

Here’s what I came up with.

Don’t be scared         Be Fearless

Don’t be lazy              Take Action

Don’t waste time      Be Productive

When it comes to personal mantras, Brendon Burchard has an excellent one. His mantra is brilliant, and you can see it center stage on his website.

It’s Live. Love. Matter.

At the end of each day, he asks himself: Did I live today? Did I love? Did I matter?

I think this is incredibly powerful. 

One of Brendon’s books that I absolutely love is High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way.

It also got me thinking about having a more powerful mantra for myself. After thinking about it for a while, I realized that I already had one, in the name of this blog.

While my earlier mantra was great from a getting things done point of view, I felt like I needed something more holistic as well, which led me back to the name of my blog.

Write. Change. Grow.

Like Brendon’s statement, I took each of these words and made them into something powerful.

Now I ask myself, did I write or journal today? Did I make positive changes? Did I grow as a person?

For me, it’s all about growing. It’s about making myself better today than I was yesterday.

Why you need a personal mantra

The beauty of personal mantras is that they can change and evolve, just as we are changing and growing.

Remember, it doesn’t have to be just three words; it could be a couple of short phrases. It’s totally up to you. Work with whatever resonates with you.

What’s your personal mantra? What’s the mantra that is going to help you move forward in your life?

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Make sure you grab a copy of High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard.

Read Next – 15 Characteristics of a Strong Woman