To Infinity and Beyond: Creating Your ‘Mini-Manifesto’

As I sit here in my room, trying to remain productive I keep getting status updates, tweets, and even a text or two mentioning the new Toy Story and just how amazing it is. Being as I haven’t seen it yet, I am growing increasingly jealous of what seems to be every other person in the universe.

Luckily, one of Toy Story’s favorite heroes gave us a quote for the ages: “To Infinity and Beyond!” While not necessarily a manifesto, it at least offers a glimpse of how and what Buzz wants to accomplish. In your own businesses you need to create something of the same thing.

Simply, a manifesto is a declaration of what you want to do, how you want to do it, and where you want to end up. It should be a written document taking into account your core values, the things you do to live those values, and a set of questions for each that you can ask yourself to make certain you are holding to them.

In creating this document, you have made a mini-manifesto with which to keep yourself on track. A clear definition of direction and a set of questions that hold you to them, is a powerful tool with which to anchor yourself and your employees. It will, however, be rendered useless if you don’t commit to it in every way. The second you ignore one of the values in your manifesto, you lose the respect of your team and the repercussions of that are detrimental.

Use your manifesto to guide your decision making, behaviors, firing and hiring practices, client relationships, and your personal life. If you find yourself at odds with your manifesto it should be a warning sign and you should carefully examine the disconnect.

The most important part of a manifesto is the commitment, you have to fully dedicate to it and its values or it becomes useless.

“Act with conviction and so will the rest of your team” – Nicole Donnelly

Ride Like A Penguin Chapter 13: Measure It Again