My Personal Credo

April 14th, 2021

I came across Leading with Character via this Tim Ferris podcast late last year and decided in January to commit to doing the ten minutes a day for ninety days journaling exercise. It’s been great, a real minds eye opener in places that has triggered some deep thinking.

The end product of a the exercise is your “Personal Credo” – to quote the book:

A credo is a statement of values that guides thinking, decisions, and behaviours.

Each day asks you a different question to journal about, with larger questions split over two or more days and a couple of stops to review as you progress. The questions range from somewhat simple but revealing, e.g. “What are the six words that best describe the reality of your life thus far?” to the short but loaded “What is the meaning of life for you?”. They were always thought provoking, often hard, sometimes easy. Reading back over three months of answers while I refined my personal credo really helped with deciding what is actually important and what I really believe.

I am going to continue on with the book and the journaling exercises they’ve been the most useful ten minutes I’ve spent each day since I started.

My Personal Credo

My mission in life is to care and nurture others and help them grow. I will do this through creating and maintaining great relationships, learning, teaching and mentoring, and building tools to help people.

To care for others I must first care for myself. Taking the time to get and keep myself healthy is an investment in myself and my ability to help others. It’s also a way of honouring my mum who had to fight her body most of her life. I have a body that works, I will look after it.

Honesty is my most important value. I will attempt to be fully honest with myself about my thoughts, feelings, desires, motivations and energy. I will also attempt to be fully honest with others though I will take the time to empathise and find the best way of expressing myself rather than being blunt. Nobody, including myself, is perfect or infallible and nor should they be expected to be.

While I have done plenty of things in my life solo, and I know I can keep doing that, I aim to find a partner in my personal life and a team in my business life for mutual support, richer experience, and accountability.

Music is important to me for connectedness, relaxation, and creativity. It’s the only outlet I have for creating something for no other reason than creating something I consider beautiful and it helps me to relax and have fun.

I am good enough, right now, to do all of the above.