Something that is free to own, something that is customized as you desire, something that you can use for your benefit in any situation in your life. Here is why I’ve engaged with my mottos and how you can make using yours your superpower too.

I enter the 53^rd year of my life today. Though 53 is a prime number, I like to think that I am still not yet close to my prime. But, how do we sustain decades of internal growth?

One of the tools I use to keep my engine of internal wealth running is mottos. Often these are quotes of others, often they are my own. As my birthday gift to you today – I want to share some of these here.

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Contents

What is a Motto?
Why use Mottos?
Classifying Mottos?
Building Your Own Toolkit
Using Your Toolkit

Final Message

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What is a Motto? [top]

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “motto” as a short sentence or phrase chosen as encapsulating the beliefs or ideals of an individual, family, or institution.

Some of my mottos are not ‘short’ because the extra words allow them to have more depth explicitly – this gives them more power.

Why use Mottos? [top]

I have a motto about mottos!

Your mottos will be your guiding tools whenever you need them if you remember to use them.

Classifying Mottos [top]

I can classify my mottos along many dimensions.

Composer – by me or someone else i.e., to take the best of all that is out there for my toolkit. “There is no point in crying over spilt milk” is a motto that has been around for ages that we can use many times daily.

Prescriptive vs Descriptive – Does the motto describe a situation rather than provide instruction?

In certain situations, just understanding what you are observing is beneficial. For example, the description “we don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are” (Anaïs Nin) may help you understand why someone you trusted was able to let you down so easily when you would never have done the same to them.

In other situations, you may need instruction or a command, for example, the prescription “Knowledge is not the bottleneck, Implementation is.” (Puru 2015).  [Read about The Implementation Gap]

Time Horizon – needed for immediate performance or long-term success. For example,

“You made it to the training session, now make it count” (Puru 2010)
vs
“If you do not work to redefine the culture around you, you will become a slave to the culture around you.” (Puru 2018)
[Read about Internal Culture – Its Existence]

Lifestyle Protocols – there are mottos that I pull up from my toolkit for specific lifestyle protocols e.g., sleep, sun exposure or fasting.

Wealth Component – External (financial) or Internal (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual) wealth. Two that I use (not my compositions) daily for all types of wealth growth are: “Diversification is a free lunch” and “Benefit from the power of compounding”.

Building Your Own Toolkit [top]

Don’t wait around – get started. Every time you come across something that helps you think about some aspect of your life better, make a note of it. Create your own mottos too. You have a smartphone, just building your toolkit there using a note-taking app!

Using Your Toolkit [top]

Like with education – it’s a bit pointless having it if you are not going to use it. Use your toolkit as needed. Don’t let your tools gather dust or get rusted – they will then be useless. “If the carpenter’s tools are useless, what can we say about the carpenter?” (Puru 2021)

Final Message [top]

Hopefully, you have already started working on your mottos by the time you’ve reached this sentence. I hope you will embrace and enjoy everything life has to offer. If your life often feels overwhelming and complex, and you would like to be guided in detail to have the best life possible, you know how to reach me.

Puru

Dr Purnendu Nath spends his waking hours focusing on helping individuals and organizations reach their goals, to make the world a better place. He speaks, writes and advises on topics such as finance, investment management, discipline, education, self-improvement, exercise, nutrition, health and fitness, leadership and parenting.