5 Steps to Creating a Personal Manifesto

Have you ever thought about writing a personal manifesto?  Maybe you’re not even familiar with what a manifesto actually is and what it can be used for.  Wonder no further, my friend!  I am going to enlighten you on manifestos, how to use them and how to write one to give you direction in life.

A personal manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the individual issuing the manifesto.  It’s a statement of ideals and intentions of the issuer.  A manifesto includes the person’s beliefs, goals and wisdom.  One can choose to make a personal manifesto public, or keep it to oneself.  

I love the idea of having a written manifesto as a compass to give guidance and direction in one’s life.  A personal manifesto can:

• Give an overall framework for your purpose and meaning in life

• Be a guiding compass to point to your own personal true north

• Act as a reminder of what you want to prioritize in life

• Be a mechanism to help you strive for your ideals

• Become a pathway for a new direction in life

The act of actually taking the time to ponder and write your personal manifesto is a way of gaining clarity on how you want to live your life.   By identifying your ideals, you can live more fully, and with intention to create the life you want.  Living into the life you want begins with first identifying WHAT you want your life to be and what your goals are.  Writing those ideals in a manifesto helps cement those goals in your mind, making it easier to strive for your ideals. 

Would you like to write your own manifesto?  Here are five steps to help you:

1. Write down answers to these questions to help uncover insights to your own personal goals and dreams:

   • What are your top five core values?

   • What brings you joy?

   • What do you LOVE to do?

   • What activities make you lose track of time when you do them?

   • What are you most passionate about?

   • How do you want to be remembered?

   • What are your longings?

   • What makes you outraged?

2. What are your strengths, skills and talents? Write down the following prompts at the top of three separate pages: “ I believe …” , “I want to …” and “I know this to be true …”. For each statement, complete the sentence with as many thoughts which come to mind.

3. Do some research on manifestos written by people you admire and respect. Write down phrases which resonate with you.

4. Review all your notes and highlight statements which have the most meaning and create strong emotion in you. Write a rough draft of your manifesto combining all these statements, then put it away for a while.

5. Reread your manifesto, editing if necessary, then create the final version of your manifesto. It can be in written paragraph form or bullet points. You may like to use calligraphy or create an info-graphic style manifesto.

Here is my personal manifesto.  I used Canva to create it and have it posted where I see it for daily inspiration.

Once you’ve created your manifesto, live it!  It’s a representation of your core beliefs, desires and goals.  Live into it and create the life you want.

Did you create a manifesto? I’d love to see it! Extra points for bravery if you share it in the comments!

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