Manifesto thinking

Craft your own manual for ikigai clarity and live your best life

🌸 ikigai 生き甲斐 is a reason for being, your purpose in life - from the Japanese iki 生き meaning life and gai 甲斐 meaning worth 🌸

Life didn’t come with a manual.

How could it? One perfect pathway for this particular Sarah.

No harsh life lessons learned because it’s all already laid out.

There was the occasional page gifted to you as you grew up. If you were lucky and were listening carefully.

I remember sitting rapt in a classroom as our RE teacher Mr Fife read to us from Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I was moved to tears and it always stuck with me. That experience transformed me.

“Do you have any idea how many lives we must have gone through before we even got the first idea that there is more to life than eating, or fighting, or power in the Flock? A thousand lives, Jon, ten thousand!”

― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Looking back, such inspirational moments were rare gems in a sea of conformity. More often, an understated thread of constraint ran through the things we were taught, shaped as much by societal norms as by any individual. There was a sense of a predefined track with set destinations, difficult to deviate from and with unambitious horizons.

It’s taken me longer than I would have liked to realise there are no limits. That there is a different and better way to play if we change our programming.

I couldn’t not share the joy of that.

I hope to inspire others to experiment with what that could mean for them too. Unlocking the very essence of who you are and why that matters for the world, is the best way I’ve found to live with purpose and joy.

What is a manifesto and why write one?

Man·​i·​fes·​to : a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer

I’ve been creating fragments of a manifesto without realising ever since I started writing here, elements in every essay I write.

I struggle with distilling my vision for all of this, never mind articulating who I am.

If I only had a few minutes to paint a picture of me how would I do that? What’s my one pager vision for seeking ikigai as a potential business?

As soon as I learned about the process of creating a manifesto for yourself and your business, I was sold *grin*

DO Creative Director Mike Coulter says they are “A super-useful, ever-present roadmap for you, and your brand.” he goes on to say;

The DO Lectures have always been great advocates and fans of the power of the Manifesto, as an essential and reliable tool for anybody interested in clarity, purpose, quick decision-making, self-expression and creativity.

At its core, a manifesto is a reflection of what truly matters to you. It strips away the superficial layers and lays bare your core values. This clarity is transformative. When you articulate this you create a beacon that guides your decisions and actions.

How do you make a manifesto?

I recommend you do this in any way that resonates most. Grab a napkin and scribble down all your deepest truths. Doodle and write it out in your bullet journal. Get out your paints and express your emotions and ink some pretty words over the top. Find a beautiful Canva template and start typing. Go hybrid on your iPad.

Here is the process I went through;

• INSPIRATION AND EDUCATION; I saw lots of awesome posts by Mike and David on LinkedIn and became obsessed with how awesome the Do Lectures and the Do Book Company are. A community of purposeful businesses, amazing creativity and inspirational education. They have a huge amount of free material available to read and watch - but if you want to treat yourself to some books or courses I cannot recommend them highly enough.

• GET STARTED JOURNALING; I’ve spoken before about my process for unearthing my values in my journal. After going through that exercise, I then started a spread to brainstorm my manifesto and I kept coming back to it over a six months period to add to it;

The process of creating a manifesto is introspective, requiring you to dig deep and ask yourself fundamental questions: What do I believe in? What problems do I want to solve? How do I want to show up in the world?

Be bold and unapologetic in *your* manifesto. It’s not about pleasing others; it’s about being true to yourself. This authenticity resonates with people and attracts those who share your vision and values. It acts as a magnet, drawing in those who align with your vision and repelling those who do not. This clarity of connection helps you build a network of supportive, like-minded individuals who propel you forward.

• LET AI HELP AND REMOVE BLANK PAGE SYNDROME; I love that I can attach an image of my journal as above and ask ChatGPT or Claude to transcribe it for me. Taking it a step further I explain what I am trying to achieve and why, give a little more context especially attaching examples of manifestos I really love that have been created by others, and I ask the tool to help come up with ideas for mine. Not all the words land, but it does a great job of synthesising in a way I often find tricky to get started.

• FIND A TRIBE FOR MOTIVATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY; Find people who light up the world and make your heart grow a size or two, and then try and spend even more time with them! One of the amazing benefits of joining a Do Lectures course are the people you meet. We now have a WhatsApp group from the Manifesto Masterclass and it was seeing the AMAZING ideas from some of the others that really made me motivated to ship a version of mine.

I decided that Canva was the fastest way for me to ideate, both in terms of trying to make it look pretty but to refine the words down to be short but still meaningful. Shout if I can help with sharing a Canva template for your process.

Presenting my first draft personal manifesto;

I started this essay, and my manifesto, with one of my earliest remembered inspirations. Maybe it’s because I live on a tiny Island and see seagulls every day that I love it so much. I think though it’s because it was the first time I remember seeing a beautiful story with an inspirational lesson for life combined with gorgeous illustration, in a really short and stunning form. I shared it with my husband back when we had only met on an online dating site, and it being one of the things we bonded over made me know he was my kind of people.

I’ve already written that Happiness is a way to travel not a destination is a rule that matters so much to me, so I will also write in more detail about the other 9 items in this list.

What’s next?

Manifesto writing aligns with the journey I am on seeking ikigai. Looking for models that help you gain clarity and identify your reason for being. To steer your career thinking through a hatarakigai lens;  the intersection of what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs and what you can be paid for. 

Manifestos matter because they provide clarity, guide decisions, and connect us with like-minded individuals. They are foundational in the journey to find our ikigai, helping us align our values, passions, and skills with our professional and personal lives. By crafting a manifesto, you take a bold step toward living a purposeful and fulfilling life.

I will refine my personal manifesto and keep you posted when I do.  I will write my business manifesto and share it here when it is ready, my thought is that it will also double as a template for people to populate to find their ikigai. Nothing like a challenge eh?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about manifestos, do you have a favourite? Do you think they have value? If you’d never heard of this idea for self improvement before, does it resonate?

Sarah, seeking ikigai xxx