Declaration of Self: How to Create Your Personal Manifesto

I recently completed a 5-day self-directed, self-clarity exercise.

Each day, I took one of the following self-assessments designed to reveal insights about my personality and natural talents:

• Natal chart

• Typefinder

• Enneagram

• Life Values Inventory

• StrengthsFinder

On the 6th day, I did a final self-clarity exercise where I perused the Ultimate list of Archetypes and selected the top 3 archetypes that fit me best.

On the 7th day… I rested. :)

Mainly because at the end of all of that self assessing, I was swimming in self-information.

And… I’m not that strong of a swimmer.

So - I set out to create something that would let me assemble all of this self-information into a statement I could actually USE to keep myself focused and afloat in times of uncertainty, difficulty or great change.

The result: My Declaration of Self.

It’s like my personal manifesto or mission statement - a declaration to myself and to the world of WHO I AM and WHY I’M HERE.

Here’s how I crafted it.

How I Created My Personal Manifesto, aka, MY Declaration of Self

Based on what I know of each of the self-assessments and what they were designed to tell me about myself - for instance, the Enneagram tells me about my ego and how I face challenges; the ascendant sign in my natal chart tells me what role others usually see me as playing - I drafted the template below.

Each self-assessment provided a result that was very similar to an archetype or that could be translated into an archetype.

WHAT IS AN ARCHETYPE?

I like to think of an archetype as a symbol or a character. Archetypes represent known patterns of behavior, a set of personal characteristics that can be summed up in a single word.

Watch MY IGTV VIDEO on ‘Defining Yourself with Archetypes’ for more on how I define and use archetypes.

By translating my assessment results into corresponding archetypes, I was able to come up with a list of words that could be plugged into my templated statement, mad-libs style.

Finding the Archetypes  for my natal chart signs and houses

To get the zodiac sign archetypes for my Sun, Ascendant, North Node, South Node and Moon signs, I relied on Kathryn Hocking’s 12 Archetypes of the Zodiac. You can find it here: https://kathrynhocking.com/the-12-archetypes-of-the-zodiac/

 

To get the house meanings for my North and South Nodes, I used the Zodiac House meanings from Labyrinthos. You can find them here: https://labyrinthos.co/blogs/astrology-horoscope-zodiac-signs/tagged/houses

The final outcome was my personal Declaration of Self:

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create Your Own personal manifesto

The 5 Self-Assessments I Do Before Goal-Setting

Every wise explorer carries something to navigate by.

Especially if what you’re exploring is yourself. 

Whenever I’m planning to make a major shift or a significant life change, I carve out time for a little self-exploration beforehand.

Why?

When I’m do something that doesn’t look like it makes sense to others, I have to be pretty sure of myself and the ‘big whys’ behind my big leap or big shift.

A few of the ‘senseless’ things I’ve done in the past:

• Quit my ‘good corporate job’ as a management consultant to invest in real estate

• Quit my ‘good corporate job’ as an IT project manager to become a freelance writer

• Quit my ‘good corporate job’ as a content strategist to move to Spain and teach English

And I recently quit my ‘good corporate job’ to start following my purpose.

After 4 years of working in an environment that tested my self-confidence and my commitment to my personal values, I knew I needed to spend some time getting reacquainted with myself without the constant stress and anxiety that comes with being in a situation or environment that is just not the right fit.

I turned to several personality assessments - some I’d taken before, some I hadn’t - to help me dig deep and really put some effort into my answers to the questions: 

‘Who Am I?’

 and,

‘Why Am I Here?’

Answering these questions allow me to enter my life planning or goal-setting process with clarity. Not just clarity about what I want - i.e., what I want to accomplish, what I want to have more of, what I want to have less of - but clarity about who I am now, who I am becoming, and what will help me bridge the gap between the two.

Having the answers to these questions gives me the essential ingredients I need to begin writing my life story. To assume the role of the hero in my own story. To stop waiting for external achievement, relationship or reward to make me feel complete or valued.

I believe that each of us was sent to the world at the exact time we were born because we have a mission to complete. Some call that mission destiny, others call it purpose. But whatever you call it, it’s this driving force that will really help us feel fulfilled in life versus only feeling accomplished.

To make sure I get the maximum value out of these personality assessments, I developed a process of extracting the most meaningful bits of each assessment and using them as inputs to:

1. Defining my life story’s main character

2. Creating the outline for my life story

As with life, it’s not just about the results of the test, but what you do with those results that matters most.

Below are the 5 personality assessments I use before I begin life planning or goal-setting. For more details on how I use each assessment, and how I create my Declaration of Self and my Life Value Map from the results, click each link to explore further.

My 5 Go-To Self-Assessments:

1. Natal chart

2. Typefinder (aka, Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator)

3. Enneagram

4. Life Values Inventory

5. StrengthsFinder

The Life Planning Outputs I Create from My Self-Assessments:

• Declaration of Self

• Life Value Map

First, select your destination.

Where do you want to go? 

What’s the biggest / most important goal you have right now?

Who do you want to be when you grow up?

These are big questions. Questions we tend to ask ourselves at times like this. Transition times. Times of shift or change. 

So, if you’re like me, you’ve been asking yourself these questions lately. But you may be finding it hard to come up with the answers.

Not because the answers are hard, but because they are overwhelming. The options are so many, the potential for messing up so great, the lack of clarity on how to get from here to there is surprisingly intimidating. 

““I want to get there,” you think.

 

“But I don’t want to bumble around in the dark, tripping over my feet and looking awkward. I just want to arrive at my destination...”

 

“...as soon as I can figure out exactly where it is that I’m going.”

 

“I just know I don’t want to be here anymore. I’m ready... but for what? Where?””

Look. I’ve been there. In a state of wanting to go, but not knowing where to go, so choosing to stay put despite the current circumstances not being ideal.

You know what that’s called? 

Inertia.

Aka, stuck.

But, the universe has a way of nudging us forward.

And now - at least according to those of us who study astrology - is one of those times that the universe is about to give all of us a big nudge.

In preparation for this ‘season of shift’, I’ve compiled a short series of audio recordings to help set the tone and get myself (and you!) ready to make the most of this time.

{ Listen to the first audio recording now }

These audio clips can be listened to while sitting quietly sipping your morning coffee, taking a walk or folding the laundry. Listen to them all in one sitting or over the next couple of days.

• Audio 1: Leaving Somewhere Is Not Going Somewhere

• Audio 2: So What’s The Big Deal With Dec 21, 2020?

• Audio 3: The 2 Things You MUST Have Before Making A Major Life Change

• Audio 4: Self-Development As Magic

Consider them your boarding pass as we begin the journey into a new season, a new year and a new age... the so-called ‘age of Aquarius’.

Boarding starts soon.

Issue my boarding pass!

Enter your email address to get your pass. Get instant access to the audio series. And get ready to make a big shift.

what the wizard of oz can teach you about business

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”

That’s got to be my favorite line from the beloved Hollywood movie classic, The Wizard of Oz. I’ve heard and used the phrase a hundred times or more, but just the other day I caught the movie on TV, and got a totally new insight from the scene in which The Great Oz is exposed as just a regular man. The Great Oz, it dawned on me, fell into the same trap that many small business owners do.

Heavy emphasis on marketing, not nearly enough on infrastructure. Think about it. Everyone in Oz – from Munchkins to Flying Monkeys – knows who the Wizard is. He’s got Glenda the Good Witch sending him referrals out the wazoo. And not once when Dorothy mentions, “I’m going to see the Wizard of Oz”, does anyone reply “Who?” Obviously, his Ozness has got one helluva marketing strategy if he’s that well known in a place that’s full of so many other colorful characters.

He’s also got a pretty good brand image that emphasizes exclusivity (no one gets in to see the Great Oz, you know) and dazzling opulence. But as soon as customers come seeking his service, it all starts to fall apart. First, the great and powerful Oz makes them jump through hoops to get his service (What? You don’t take credit cards? You’ve got no website? You’re only open every other Tuesday? It only works on a PC? I gotta kill a wicked witch to get an appointment?). And even once his customers have completed the extremely difficult task he asks of them, he stalls for time. “Come back tomorrow,” he says. “I know I said that if you did this, then I could meet your need, but…”.

Time and time again, I see businesses of all sizes spend a fortune in time and money on creating beautiful presentation and packaging for their business, generating a lot of buzz and publicity, and subsequently falling flat on their faces or driving themselves insane with work, when the customers hit the door and they realize they’ve got to deliver on the unrealistic expectations their marketing created.

So, am I saying that you shouldn’t do a great job of marketing and branding your business? Nope, not at all. But I am saying:

Your marketing and promotions should match your infrastructure. If you’re marketing to the world that you make the biggest and baddest widgets on the block or that you’re the premier, most exclusive this-that-or-the-other, then dammit, you’d better have the infrastructure to back it up, or someone’s going to call shenanigans on you.

Only promise what you can deliver. Better yet: underpromise, and over-deliver. Don’t tell your potential customers that you can get their product to them in 2 -days, when you know it could take 3 or 4, or even 2 and a half days. If you think it’ll take 2 days, tell them it’ll take 3, and surprise them with the good news. Set realistic expectations, and meet or exceed them every time.

It’s ok to have limitations, just be sure to reveal them upfront. You’re a small business. Everybody knows it. There’s no shame in having a limitation here or there. You’ll be surprised how forgiving people can be if you just tell them (yes, even in your marketing) about your limitations, and let them know how you’re working to improve.

It’s not ok to have the same limitations forever. If you’ve been giving the same “we’re working to improve” line to your customers for years, eventually they’re going to get tired of hearing it. They will expect more of you. And you should expect more of yourself. Spend the time and effort to stabilize your infrastructure, or if you don’t know where to start, ask for help.

The moral of the story is: The hoodoo, magic, pomp, and circumstance of over-the-top marketing might make you a popular little business, but you’ll need to pay some attention to what’s going on behind the curtain to be a successful little business.

The good news is… you probably already have everything you need. Some brains, a lot of heart, and a little bit of courage.

And a pair of sparkly red pumps wouldn’t hurt either.