What is a Personal Manifesto? And how can you use one to empower you life?
There are four things you need to know. If you fail to grasp these four principles you’ll fail to reap the full rewards when you write your personal manifesto.
1 Intention
What do these personal manifestos all have in common?
Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, Humility
Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues (How to Write a 5-star Personal Manifesto like Benjamin Franklin)“I want to serve the people. And I want every girl, every child to be educated.”
Malala Yousafzai, Noble Prize Winner“Say Yes now. Figure it out later.”
Cariza Santos, Life of Riza
More Famous Personal Mission Statements here.
These famous people all set out to become someone, do something or live a particular way.
And that’s what a manifesto is all about. A manifesto is an intention. An intention is a goal, an aim or a purpose. And a manifesto is the umbrella term for setting your intention.
To use this, ask yourself:
- What is your intention?
- What do you want?
- Who do you want to become?
- How do you want to live?
2 Public
On the right is a personal manifesto from Rob Cressy.
I’ve never met Rob. He lives in Florida. I live in Australia.
I’m sharing his personal manifesto with you today is because Rob put it out in public. He created a video about it, wrote about it on his blog and shared a photo of his manifesto hanging on the wall.
If he hadn’t done that, I would never have heard of Rob or his personal manifesto. And I wouldn’t be sharing it with you here.
Can you see how this works?
Your manifesto is not a private document you hide in a drawer. It’s something you share publicly. That’s how you gain traction and value with it. And this can be as simple as Rob’s three simple steps:
- Put it on your wall.
- Share it online.
- Talk about it with real people.
3 Declaration
It might surprise you to know that a wedding is a powerful place for manifestos to live.
There are three elements here.
First, you have the marriage celebrant. They typically say, ‘By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife.’
Second, you have the bride and groom. They share their personal commitments to each other in the form of their vows. A typical set of vows might go like this: I take you to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, to love and cherish, forsaking all others, until death do us part.
Third, we have the conversations of the wedding guests. They might say things like, ‘she looks beautiful’ or ‘I love the flower arrangements’.
Two of these examples are manifestos. And only one of these is a personal manifesto. Can you guess which is which?
A Manifesto is…
A manifesto is a declaration. And a declaration is when we use words to create the future. When you declare something you create a new world.
The opposite of a declaration is an opinion. The wedding guests are sharing their opinions about the future. That’s useful social glue but not a declaration. And not a manifesto.
The wedding celebrant declares the couple are now legally married. Until this point in time, the bride and groom were simply in a relationship. But now it’s official – they are a partnership. The celebrant’s words create a new future.
And the groom/bride declares their commitment to each other. They’re saying how they are going to live in the future. In particular, how they are going to care for and treat each other. This also creates a future too.
(Importantly, all of this happens in public. The guests are witnesses to these declarations.)
But which one is the personal manifesto? The celebrants or the bride and groom? The next principle will answer this.
To create a new future for yourself, make a declaration. Draw a line in the sound.
- What are you ending?
- What are you starting?
4 Authority
Which of these two famous examples is a personal manifesto?
On May 25, 1961, US President John F Kennedy said this to Congress:
“… I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”
Source: JFK Library
On August 28, 1963, the Rev Martin Luther King Jnr delivered these words to a public gathering on the steps on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. They’re part of his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech:
“…And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.”
Source: NPR.org
Personal or Representative
Both Kennedy and King shared a public declaration of their intention. This makes both speeches a manifesto. But one of them is personal and the other is not. Can you guess which is which?
While an individual person is sharing each manifesto, JFK is not acting as an individual. He’s acting as the President of the United States. He’s making this declaration on behalf of his country. That means it’s not personal.
In contrast, Martin Luther King is speaking his personal truth. While people follow his words, he’s not formally representing them in the way JFK is.
The same applies to the wedding. The celebrant is operating in an official capacity. Any registered celebrant could deliver these words. But the bride and groom are sharing a personal manifesto – a personal commitment and intention to each other. And in public.
The dirty big difference between vision and mission – MLK versus JFK
Why does this matter?
It all comes down to authority. And this is the key to the power of a personal manifesto.
Do you have the authority to declare your personal manifesto? Yes, you do. In fact, you’re the only one that can. You are the author of your life.
Use your personal manifesto to claim your life, empower your life and create your future.
Recap: What is a Personal Manifesto?
A manifesto has three parts. It’s a Public Declaration of your Intention.
And a personal manifesto has one more element – authority. Only you have the authority to declare your personal manifesto.
More on How to Write a Personal Manifesto
Now that you know what is a personal manifesto, how can you use it to empower your life? In other words, how can you write your own? Read these posts next to find out.
