Ask HN: What's Your Personal Motto?

[kklisura]

Do you have a personal motto and what it is?

> While our immediate problems tend to distract us in everyday life, having a mantra can help us stay in touch with our deepest goals. Mottos ultimately can do many things, such as increase your productivity, inspire you, or help you change a habit. [1]

[1] 9 Reasons You Need a Personal Motto, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/changepower/201508/9-reasons-you-need-personal-motto

[swat535]

I've always loved Søren Kierkegaard (especially Aesthetic)[0]:

Marry, and you will regret it; don’t marry, you will also regret it; marry or don’t marry, you will regret it either way.

Laugh at the world’s foolishness, you will regret it; weep over it, you will regret that too; laugh at the world’s foolishness or weep over it, you will regret both.

Believe a woman, you will regret it; believe her not, you will also regret it…

Hang yourself, you will regret it; do not hang yourself, and you will regret that too; hang yourself or don’t hang yourself, you’ll regret it either way;

whether you hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This, gentlemen, is the essence of all philosophy

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_S%C3%B8ren_Kierk...

[EDIT]

It looks I am being downvoted, so I am adding more details for those confused:

This is written from the point of view of the Aesthete, someone who lives entirely for pleasure. From the point of view of pleasure, each decision is a missed opportunity for a different kind of pleasure. You'll find some pleasure in marrying, but you'll miss out on some other pleasures by doing so. Due to this, every choice is meaningless and thus cause for regret.

Kierkegaard paints this as being very different from decisions made in the ethical realm. Once in the ethical, we choose based on certain principles, and those principles guide us to do what is right. In that scenario our choices become meaningful and we are no longer plagued with regret, for even if there was pleasure in the other option, we did what was good, and thus we are satisfied. The life of pleasure seeking is characterized by this kind of regret, for Kierkegaard, whereas he characterizes the ethical life as being made up of meaningful choice.

[leashless]

"If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing badly."

A crappy prototype is better than an idea. A three day vacation you take is better than a week only planned. It's a series of small steps.

[leashless]

Pair with the secret of inhuman productivity: if the first 80% of the job takes 20% of the effort, you can do the first 80% of five different things for 400% output. By then you know what's worth really investing in finishing and you can focus down having mapped out a lot of options first.

[joop_dev]

“Stress is an exception”

These days many of us are too stressed for hours, days or weeks on end. Whereas back in our forest days you’d be stressed once in a while when you’d suddenly see that tiger. Our bodies are made for short durations of stress, not prolonged periods.

So when I notice I am stressed or feel tense, I ask myself: “Is this an exceptional moment to be stressed?” If no, I try to take a step back and evaluate why where the stress is coming from, what would happen if I ignore the situation or put less effort into it? Then hopefully feel less stressed.

[gardenmwm]

Mine is “This to shall pass”. Like the old king, I’ve found it keeps me humble in the good times, and hopeful in the bad.

[version_five]

Walk down, fuck them all. I know it's a cliche (maybe "slow and steady wins the race" is more PC, but it's not as motivating), but it's a helpful reminder when getting too excited about something.

(I don't really have a "motto", this is a good mantra though)

Edit: also, "if you dislike change, you'll like irrelevance even less" - General Shinseki, US Army

And

"If you don't lie, you never have to remember anything" - attributed to Mark Twain

[afarviral]

Got me through some hard times: "Let it come, let it be, let it go."

Also: "Accept your inner experience, choose a valued direction, take action" from ACT therapy.

Whenever stressed those two mantras can guide the mind to a more productive state.

[lolmanwhat]

"Be stupid"

I realized that super-dumb and super-smart people often get to the same conclusions. So often times, when I find myself stuck, I remind myself to think stupid before making a decision.

[tomlockwood]

I'm not really a fan of stoicism but I read this quote when I was a kid and it has stuck with me:

"The noblest kind of retribution is to not become like your enemy"

Marcus Aurelius

[VoodooJuJu]

Does it have to be an original personal motto? Here's an unoriginal one that's entered my mind almost daily for a while now:

"If the world hates you, remember it hated me [Christ] first."

[version_five]

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" is another good biblical one

[dossy]

I don't know who to attribute this to, but these certainly aren't my words, but they have been the words to help me re-center myself when I'm having "one of those moments" and my lizard brain is running the show:

"It all works out in the end, and in the end, we're all dead."

[Froedlich]

"Don't fuck with me."

A bit salty in ordinary conversation. Several online translators agreed "Non futuis mecum" is an intelligible Latin equivalent. Though in conversation, probably less useful than Klingon or Navajo.

[marttt]

If you're afraid, don't do it; if you do it, don't be afraid. -- my dad

I remember reasoning like this a lot in my early adulthood when I had to to use our (diy, somewhat inaccurate and scary) table saw.

[mikewarot]

I can repair anything given sufficient time and budget.

I've fixed old undocumented industrial controls, atomic clocks, all sorts of things.

I'd be happy to help fix/reverse engineer any captured UFOs. ;-)

[electricant]

"If you want something well done you'd better do it yourself"

No matter what there's always a tradeoff between having something in life the way you like it with lots of effort or rely on somebody else. But when you rely on other people they'll do stuff the way _they_ like.

It's both a motto that encourages me to try new things and invest time doing them but also to respect other people's work and point of views.

[anon2020dot00]

"There are worse fates than death" and "There was a season for everything".

Sometimes one's fears leads one to a fate worse than death; sometimes better to just accept the risk of death and say that if death wants to come then let it come.

Also, the pace of time means that everything changes and sometimes this is hard to accept; but unavoidable. Everyone's life has seasons of joy and hardship.

[h2odragon]

Shit Happens.

All philosophy boils down to those two words in the end.

[juanci_to]

I tend to say this in Spanish as "Cosas que pasan", which can be translated as "Things that happen". It's similar to French expression "C'est la vie"

Edit: of course that I use it mostly when something bad happens, something that's maybe unlikely but possible. That's when I tell my peers «these are things that happen». Like, after a robbery or something. Son cosas que pasan

[br377]

90% of the time, nothing is the right thing to do

[blitz_skull]

"Adversity devours the weak"

From "Survive" by Gideon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNxiXy1nAeU

I use this mantra to remind myself that I can always go more than I think I can, and when I think I've done all I can, I can do more.

[maykut]

"If it works, don't fix it."

[Group_B]

It’s not who you know, it’s who you blow