I wanted to share some personal insights for anyone who has spent any amount of time, energy, resources and money trying to create a "Meaningful Motto" which tells the world what you want them to know about you and your brand, be it personal, corporate or both.
You know what you want to say but getting it all into one succinct line of under 10 words (what genius came up with that parameter?) can be incredibly challenging, frustrating, distracting and dare I say it .. even depressing at times!
All the historical wisdom, tips and "experts" you can access to help can be often lead to more confusion than clarity.
Consequently, after much "navel gazing" the desired outcome may seem even further away than when you first started on this journey!
Here's some of the things which I have learnt which you may find useful in your journey to establishing a "Meaningful Motto".
Always trust yourself and your instincts, after all you got yourself to this position in the first place and you know exactly what you want to say.
The input, advice, whatever from anyone who cares to contribute, invited or otherwise, can't make the decision, only you can.
Keep your audience in mind at all times (sound familiar but amazing how often ignored!) as what they see and interpret is biased by their own subjective views and experiences, your primary intent is to get their attention in the first place and encourage their interest in delving more.
Procrastination is normal, not abnormal, when you are trying to be creative and the benefit I got from a potential negative scenario, is it actually helps you to discard the "wannabe" options and focus on the "probable" ones.
What you ultimately come up with may already be someone else's mantra, that doesn't mean it's not available or right for you, you just need to figure out how to say it in an original way.
Test it out on your circle of trusted friends and colleagues, they probably represent a good spread of your potential audience and will give you good, constructive feedback and comments, without prejudice, which will either confirm and/or help you further enhance your thoughts.
How much effort, time, resources, advice and money you wish to spend is always your choice, don't let it become the torpedo which sinks your ship before it launches.
Finally, you can always change it to align with how and what you do, the future is unknown, what you are trying to do is best position yourself to take advantage of the opportunities as they present themselves.
So, putting some of these points into perspective and context when creating my own "Meaningful Motto", ie "Today Shapes Tomorrow - We Help Shape Today".
Original theme, not necessarily, original wording "YES"!
Effort/time, etc., spent - maybe two hours and several (well an A4 page at least) iterations.
Total $ spent - zero!
End result - happy!
If you found this useful and want some help or advice with your own "Meaningful Mottos" creation journey, then please feel free to contact me at your leisure to talk further.
Good luck!!!!!!