Gents Journey
Gents Journey
Crafting Your Personal Manifesto: A Guide to Clarity and Purpose
Unlock the transformative power of a personal manifesto in our latest episode of the Gentleman's Journey podcast. Ever wondered how successful individuals navigate life's uncertainties with unwavering clarity and purpose? We explore how crafting a personal manifesto can serve as your North Star, aligning every decision with your core values and vision. Starting with the essentials, we guide you through identifying and defining your unique values—those key beliefs that are the foundation for your life's decisions. We then take you on a journey to envision your ideal life, ensuring your aspirations are distinctly yours and not borrowed from others.
In this episode, we delve into the critical step of setting non-negotiables, those unwavering principles that guard your authenticity and guide you toward fulfillment. Hear the inspiring story of Richard, a marketing executive who redefined success by aligning his career with his personal values, finding profound happiness and balance. You'll learn practical tips for crafting and implementing your manifesto, keeping it visible in your daily life to reinforce your newfound clarity. To support your journey, connect with me via email or Instagram, and let's make 2025 your year of transformation and self-empowerment. Remember, the power to shape your reality is in your hands.
"True mastery is found in the details. The way you handle the little things defines the way you handle everything."
Hello and welcome to the Gentleman's Journey podcast. My name is Anthony, your host, and today we're going to talk about something that, if you really want to make a difference in your life, you need to have something like this, because this is something you're always going to be working from. It's something that's always going to give you clarity and, when times get tough, it's going to be something that you use to find the light in any situation that you're in. Now, what is this that I'm talking about today? I'm talking about creating a personal manifesto. Okay, so let's go ahead and let's talk about it. Now, people are going to be like what are you talking about? What is a manifesto? So, a manifesto is this Imagine having a document that defines who you are, what you stand for and the life that you want to create. Right, a personal manifesto. It's not just a statement. It's you could call it, it's like your North Star, but realistically, it's a guide to staying aligned with your values and your vision, no matter what life throws at you. So what I want to do today in this episode is this I want to explore with you how to create your own personal manifesto. Right, we're going to talk about why this is so powerful, how it shapes your decisions, and what steps you can take today to craft one or to create one. I guess I could say that feels authentic or feels like you. Okay, and like I said, what I want to do is, by the end of this, I want to give you the tools to create your manifesto, but I want this manifesto to inspire you, to empower you and to keep you focused on what truly matters.
Speaker 1:So, again, what is a manifesto? A manifesto, again, just so we're all clear. It's a written declaration of your beliefs, your. It's a reminder of who you are and who you aspire to be In this way. This is important. What a manifesto does? It really provides clarity and direction during uncertain times in your life, okay, but it also helps you make decisions that align with your core values and it keeps you motivated and focused on your long-term goals. And it keeps you motivated and focused on your long-term goals, because here's the thing about a manifesto that I need you to understand, especially when you create it the first time. It has nothing to do with perfection. It doesn't need to be perfect. What it needs to be is just intentional. So I need to say that in the beginning of this, so you kind of get a really clear idea what we're talking about.
Speaker 1:Now, as we're talking about this, right, let's go into crafting your manifesto. So you know, the first step you need to do is you need to define what your core values are, because I'm going to be honest with you if you don't know what your core values are, realistically none of this works right, because if you don't have any core values, you don't have any principles that guide your life, and the reason why defining your core values is you don't have any principles that guide your life, and the reason why defining your core values is so important in this is literally what you base your decisions off of your life decisions, your personal decisions, any decisions that you make you base it off of these core values. This core value set All right, and one of the things I'll tell you to do is, when you're writing down your core values, write down 10 or 15 values that matter the most to you. So it could be like having integrity, it could be about growth, it could be love, it could be resilience. It's about doing the best I can do daily. It could be always giving 100%. There's no right or wrong answer when you're doing this, when you're creating your core values. They're your core values. They're not my core values. They're not their core values, they're your core values. We all might have similar core values, but they all also might be different too.
Speaker 1:Okay, now, as we're doing this, as you define your core values, right? The second step is to clarify your vision, envision the life you want to create, and let me tell you why this is so, so important just in general, of your life. There's a saying that if you don't have a vision for your life, you'll be working for someone else's vision of their life. Right, so you're going to be working for somebody and establishing their vision. Okay, now, I'm not saying you got to be an entrepreneur or take over the world I'm not saying that necessarily but if you don't have a direction and focus, someone's going to put their direction and focus in front of you and you're always going to be stymied, right, always. So really being clear about what you want and about creating the life that you want is absolutely, 100% paramount in anything that you do, especially when you're building a manifesto, right, remember, this is a document that you're going to base all your decisions off of. You have to be clear in your vision and what it is in life that you want to create, and this is something that is very easy I'm not going to say to do, but it's simple to take steps towards.
Speaker 1:So, when you're looking at the life you want to create, when I started doing this, the question I asked myself was this what does my ideal day look like? What does it look like? What are the things that make me happy during the day? What are some things I really want to be doing? What am I going to be focusing on right? Then, once I started talking about that or deciding that, I also started asking is who am I when I'm at my best right? What am I most relaxed? What am I having the most fun? Where do I feel, where I'm the most authentic in my life? And, realistically, with that, it's doing this, what we're currently doing right now, which is you listening to me doing a podcast Sorry to take a drink there, but that could be different for you. Again, as we're going through this, there is no right or wrong answers. This is everything that just resonates with you. So I know, as you're doing this, it may sound a little crazy, it may make you feel a little funny. You may even feel uncomfortable. Those are all okay to feel, so I just want to make sure that that's out there, thank you.
Speaker 1:Now the next thing and this is something that can be very hard to do, and what it is is identifying your non-negotiables. A lot of the time, people have a problem setting boundaries right, but you have to do this. You have to decide what your boundaries are or principles are, and you have to be unwilling to compromise on these things. Because, again, if you want to be on the journey to self-mastery and the journey to become a gentleman, you have to have non-negotiables. You just have to Like there's no way around it, there's just not. You have to have boundaries and you have to have principles that you're unwilling to compromise on. That right, there is really what's going to start holding this manifesto together for you, okay, and what you can do is you can write statements that start with this I will always be X and I will never do Y. So if you have those things in there, if you're coming up against something, it doesn't feel right to you or it feels wrong or whatever the case is, if you look at those statements, it'll give you clarity in helping you make decisions in your life. Okay, that's so important.
Speaker 1:Now, the next thing we're going to start doing You're going to start writing this stuff out. You're going to combine your values, your vision and your non-negotiables into a clear statement. So something you could do. You start with, I believe, dot, dot, dot, dot dot. Or my purpose is dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. Right, and again, remember, as you're writing this out, as you're doing this, there is no right or wrong answer in any of this. This is meant for you specifically. You are creating this for you.
Speaker 1:Okay, now the next thing You've got to make this visible. Now, like I have my manifesto written on my bathroom wall, like on a sticky pad, right On little sticky notes, I should say, and I look at that with my I am statements. Okay, I look at that every day, multiple times a day, and I'm telling you that is what gives me clarity and purpose to do what I want to do in my life. Okay, because here's the thing the more you see your manifesto, the more that you live your manifesto, the more your life will change into the life that you want to live. So there's nothing wrong with printing it out, adding it to your journal or creating a digital version for you on your phone. Guess what I've done all three of those. I have a digital version on my phone that I look at when I first wake up in the morning. Now I have it on my journal. So when I'm journaling my day, bam, it's right there, and I said I have it printed out and I put it on my bathroom mirror.
Speaker 1:So, as we're talking about this, I have a client, right, richard? So we did this exercise, I don't know, about a week ago, maybe it was two weeks ago and you know he's a marketing executive. He's done marketing for a while. He was probably in his I don't know probably early 40s, and the thing about it is, in his company he's climbed up pretty quickly, right, making a bunch of money. But he feels unfulfilled, right, and as we're going through this, you know, as we're having conversations, I guess I should say you know he was swamped with tasks and things to do at his work and his life that weren't aligned with his passions.
Speaker 1:Right, he would say yes to projects that would just completely drain him mentally and physically and he knew he needed a change. Like, he knew this, like he wasn't being himself, he wasn't being his authentic self and it was completely just draining the life force out of him every time he was going to work, right? So I said, listen, let's create a manifesto for you. You know we did his core values. You know he realized just how upset and realistically, not only being upset, but he just wasn't satisfied in his job anymore because he was ignoring his core values for external success. So he was trading his core values really for outside success, for money and all these different things, right? So as we're doing this, I said, okay, now envision the life that you want, like, truly want, not what you think that I want for you, not what you think anybody else wants for you, but what do you want for you, right?
Speaker 1:So, as he's doing this, right, he's like you know, he wanted to work on projects that he cared about, he wanted to spend a lot more time with his family and he wanted to maintain a healthy lifestyle, healthy work-life balance lifestyle. And then he defined his non-negotiables and he was, you know. He said I'm not going to work on the weekends anymore, I'm not going to take calls after six o'clock and I'm going to be fully present in my family's life. Right, and once he did that he started making bold moves. So he was up for another raise, like another position, right and when he was looking at what the position was and what they wanted to offer him, he realized it wasn't aligned with his core values. So what he did instead, he actually left the company and went to work for a startup that really aligned with his core values right and really wanted to help build this company. And then he carved out, like I said, those non-negotiable times. They were willing to work with him and now I mean this is like I said like he just started doing this and you could tell he's on the right path.
Speaker 1:Now he's happy, you know, he has a brightness to him again. You can start to see his life coming back, and I know for a fact that it's. His life is only going to get better and the money that he may have lost on right now he will get back. Sooner or later he will, because the thing you have to understand and I know this is like said all the time, but it's really true what you feel inside is what you see outside of yourself, right, and if you have nothing to give out of your cup, you can't receive anything.
Speaker 1:So what I'm trying to tell you is, if you're feeling stuck right now, this is your time to create your manifesto, because there's no better time when you're feeling stuck. You create your manifesto Now. You have something to work from and I'm going to tell you you're going to notice a massive, massive difference in your life. Because here's what I need to tell you when you're doing your manifesto, and like we were talking about when I was telling you earlier, being clear really drives action. Right, because when you're clear on what you want and you're clear in your values, you will start making aligned decisions with you. Okay, and then also, too, when you're creating boundaries, right, like he did, you reclaim your time and your energy back.
Speaker 1:I know there's probably a lot of us out there right now that are working 10, 12, 13, 14 hours a day, or you just work from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, and just it's what it is. Where you don't create boundaries, people are going to push you to the limit. And then some, right, you have to carve out time for yourself to replenish your energy, and just replenish your own well-being. You just have to. It's so important, right, and I'm going to tell you when you create this manifesto. It's going to be like a well-worn pair of jeans. You're going to want to be in it all the time. It's going to be like your safety blanket. It's just something that you can always look at and always work from and know that you're always going to be making aligned decisions when you have this in your life, that you're always going to be making aligned decisions when you have this in your life.
Speaker 1:So what I want to do is let's build, right now, your manifesto. Let's do it. Okay. So what I want you to do I mean, if you're driving, obviously don't do this, but if you're at home or you're sitting in a place, you can do this. This is a great time to do it. No time like the present. Right, grab a journal, a piece of paper, pull up the notes tab on your phone and write this down. Write down your manifesto blueprint right. Write that at the top.
Speaker 1:Now the first thing you're going to do is you're going to write core values. That's the first thing. What I want you to do is I want you to write down a minimum of three no more than six values that define who you are. So, for me, I have growth. Honesty, empathy, creativity and freedom. Those are mine. Yours may be different, and that's okay. Remember, there's no right or wrong in this.
Speaker 1:Next, once you get that done, you're going to write down your vision statement Just one to two sentences, describing the life you want to create. It doesn't need to be a huge paragraph One to two sentences is amazing is I'm living a life where I wake up and I get to inspire people, I create meaningful content and I build connections that uplift others. That's what I wrote down. Again, yours is probably going to be different. That is okay. Okay, yours is probably going to be different. That is okay, okay.
Speaker 1:Now, next, you're going to write down your non-negotiables. You're going to list three rules or principles that you will always follow. Mine is this I always honor my boundaries. Mine is this I always honor my boundaries and I never compromise my integrity for success. Again, there is no right or wrong answer here. Yours may be different than mine, and that's okay. So, once you've done that, what I want you to do when you're done, combine all of this. Like I said, you have a draft of it, right? This is your manifesto. This is your living document. Now it will evolve as you grow, and that is okay. That is normal.
Speaker 1:You may go back and change this in the first year, maybe three or four times. Remember, you're refining who you are and you're refining this to fit who you are, so it's fluid. Just remember that. Okay, now, like I said, if you haven't done that yet, I'm going to challenge you to do that. It could take 15, 20 minutes. It might take you two hours. There's no time limit on this.
Speaker 1:Okay, remember, when you're starting this, start with your values, write down your vision and define your non-negotiables. Vision and define your non-negotiables. Then turn that into a statement that's going to reflect who you are and where you're going, because this is what you have to understand about your manifesto. It's not just words on a page. What you're really doing is is you're making a promise to yourself, right? So what I want you to do is you're making this promise to yourself. I want you to make it meaningful. If it doesn't have meaning, it doesn't matter, right? I also want you to make it bold. I want you to be a little bit uncomfortable as you're doing this, right? But here's the biggest thing. I don't want you to copy off of anybody else. I want you to make it yours. Okay, I want you to make it yours. You do this, you create your manifesto. I'm telling you, the next 30 days is going to blow your socks off, I promise. So, guys, thank you so, so, so, very much for listening today.
Speaker 1:Now, if you have a question on this or anything that I've talked about today, now, if you have a question on this or anything that I've talked about today, please, please, please, never hesitate to reach out to me. There's three ways. First way you can text me. If you look on the show notes, it'll say text me. You go ahead and text me. I'll text you right back, right? Unless you text me two o'clock in the morning. I'm asleep, I'm sorry, okay.
Speaker 1:Second way is going to be my email. My email address is anthony at gentsjourneycom. Please, please, please, never hesitate to reach out to me. You can email me. I'll email you right back, all right. And last but not least, you can always go on my Instagram page. My Instagram page is MyGentsJourney. Please, please, please, never hesitate to reach me out on there, too. You can DM me and I'll DM you back, all right. Because, again, remember, 2025 is your year. Sit down, give yourself some time, create your manifesto, create the life that you want, because you deserve it, because 2025, remember is your year. So again, guys, thank you so very much for listening today and remember this you create your reality. Take care.