In The Art of the Start Guy Kawasaki tells us to “Make Mantra”. I think this is good practice in any endeavor. A simple message that can be conveyed to all parties, is easy to remember and gets to the heart of what you are trying to accomplish, a mantra, should be concise but it should also think big. Try making mantra in your own life. Where I work, we create software to allow employers to attract, select, assess, develop, and reward people. The unofficial mantra I have taken up when designing the interfaces is: “Build better leaders.” On my kickball team (yes, I am a 31 year old man playing a game for grade-schoolers) we could use the phrase: “Never stop running” to describe our aggressive base-running and, in fact, the secret to our success. When training our new puppy my wife and I could use the slogan: “Just make it past year one”. And in politics, the nation’s Democrats could use the mantra: “Fairness and opportunity for all Americans”.

Mantras are a beautiful thing and can be very powerful. I expect every project I work on to have one or I will make one.