Personal Mantras: Got one?
Submitted by Merlin on June 6, 2005 - 6:04am.
Personal Mantras - 43FoldersWiki
I’ve been digging the personal mantras that people have been adding to the wiki.
It’s interesting to see the different approaches and interests people have been taking; for some it’s an affirmation, for others it’s a motto or creed, and for many it appears to be a persistent reminder about the right thing to do.
My mantra—if you can call it that—is “Smaller, smaller.” It’s a principle more practical than spiritual, I suppose. I say it to myself several times a day to try and always remember that small things are easier to do than big things, and that most big things are really just a pile of small things if you break them up right. In real-world terms, “Smaller, smaller” means:
- sub-projects
- small-sized teams
- modest, achievable goals
- granular tasks, TODOs, and, yes, “next actions”
- fast deadlines
- frequent, but very short, check-in meetings
- understanding how one piece leads to the next
- making it hard to fail
There’s been very few times that “Smaller, smaller” has done me wrong. No matter how ambitious a project, idea, or problem is, there’s usually a way to break into very small pieces. Anyhow, that’s mine.
Got a personal mantra or motto of your own? Why’d you choose the one you did?
(And, no, “I believe I’ll have another beer” probably doesn’t count.)
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My wife's old professor used...
My wife’s old professor used to say “Think. Plan. Do. Finish. Publish.” over and over.
He said the world would be much better if more than a few people did more than three of the five.
Outside academia, Publish has equivalents that turn your private project into something that impacts the rest of the world. (“Ship it”, etc.)