Your Personal Creed

When drafting a Self-Constitution (S-C), SAL practitioners are encouraged to create a PERSONAL CREED as one of their constitutional articles.

Dr. JJ's Personal Creed

What exactly is a Personal Creed?

A "CREED" is defined as: "a set of beliefs or aims that guides a person's thoughts, speech, actions, and lifestyle." Thus, a personal creed is a concise, summary statement you draft that articulates the "beliefs" or "aims" you desire to guide your thoughts, speech, actions, and lifestyle—throughout your life.

To illustrate an example of a Personal Creed, I have included a copy of my own. It can be found to the right of this paragraph...

The Self-Action Leadership Textbook, Volume 2, describes a Personal Creed as "a succinct statement that encapsulates your entire Self-Constitution" (p. 86). While your entire Self-Constitution is likely to be many pages long (too long to realistically memorize), a Personal Creed is much shorter and should be creatively designed in a way that is easy to visually display, readily remember, and quickly memorize.

To again quote Volume 2 of the SAL textbook: "When composing a personal creed, avoid including detailed objectives and goals. Instead, highlight general truths and characteristics you wish to exemplify and hold up as your life's long-term foci" (p. 86-87).  

My Personal Creed helps me keep what is
most important to me in the forefront of my mind

Because I personally love poetry, I decided to compose my Personal Creed as a rhymed poem. This makes it extra special to me—and easier to memorize (for me) than a prose statement. I also printed out a copy of my Personal Creed and taped it in a location in my office where I can see it regularly. I further display an additional copy next to a picture in our bedroom of my wife—my best friend, closest confidant, and love of my life—as a bride on our wedding day.

Your personal creed should uniquely reflect YOU in the same way that mine uniquely reflects ME. Yours does not need to look like, sound like, or contain the same information as mine does. While many creeds may possess similar principles, themes, and motifs, no two creeds should be exactly the same—just as no two human beings are exactly the same.  

If you have not yet drafted your Self-Constitution, perhaps the best place to begin is to draft your Personal Creed. 

I invite and encourage you to take an hour or so out of your busy schedule and think deeply about what is most important to you in your life, relationships, and career. Then, after you have taken down some key notes, spend another hour or so drafting up a Personal Creed. Finally, take the effort to commit your Personal Creed to memory, and display a copy (or two or three) in locations in your home and/or office where you will be able to see it and recommit to it on a regular basis.

I promise that engaging in this incredibly powerful and inspiring activity can be enjoyable, meaningful, and motivating in ways that will positively and productively impact your life, relationships, and career. I know this is true because that is what it has done for me. And when you think about it, it's a pretty big payout for just a few hours work!

What do you have to lose to give it a try?    

-Dr. JJ

May 26, 2021

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

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