A few years ago, I attended a leadership program. Most of those programs are filled with clichéd and forgettable activities.
But one of the exercises stood out.
We had to summarize our entire life motto in only seven words.
We couldn’t use six. We couldn’t use eight. It had to be exactly seven.
This was a challenge because picking one sentence that summarized everything you stood for felt daunting.
However, after a couple of days of hard thinking, I came up with mine:
“Family Always First. Keep Learning. Keep Grinding.”
Here’s a breakdown of what each phrase means.
Family Always First
My family is my North Star. Everything I do takes the well-being of my wife and two girls into consideration. That’s my primary focus. Beyond that, it’s my other family members (parents, siblings, in-laws, etc.) and close friends.
If I get an opportunity for a new promotion or a new job, I ask myself how that will affect my family. If it’ll require that I spend crazy hours, get hyper-stressed, or travel constantly, then I probably won’t take it.
Many people might not relate to that. To some, it’s career always first. And that’s okay. What’s important is knowing what matters most to you.
Keep Learning
“Permanent beta” is the idea of continuously focusing on personal and career growth as if you’re in test mode.
To some people, 15 years of experience is just one year of experience repeated 15 times.
But if you’re in permanent beta, 15 years of experience is 15 years of experience.
Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and prioritizing learning over everything else is a smart habit to adopt.
This is an idea I learned from a book I read many years ago, called The Start-Up of You.
I tell friends that I don’t have any tattoos. But if I were ever to get one (very low chance), it would be the phrase Ancora Imparo.
Michelangelo said it when he was 87. It means “Yet, I am learning” in Italian.
I never want to stop learning.
Keep Grinding
If I were on my deathbed and had to leave my girls with one word to remember, it would be “grit.” Grit is the idea of perseverance toward meaningful goals, and I think it’s the key to success in business and life.
“Keep grinding” is about grit and never giving up on the things that matter most.
*****
That’s basically it.
Family Always First. Keep Learning. Keep Grinding.
Having a 7-word life motto makes things simple, especially with the big decisions. The exercise was so inspirational that I created a wall quote out of mine and hung it over my desk.
It’s a foundational mental model that all my life decisions are based on.
How to use this mental model
Come up with your life motto using precisely seven words. Then print it out and frame it above your desk. It’ll help you with important decisions.
This is an excerpt from “Mental Models for Effective Managers.”
