What is a manifesto?
Literally speaking, your manifesto is a declaration of your life principles. It’s what makes you tick—what is important to you beyond the Facebook profile description.
It may not necessarily reflect how you view yourself right now. You may be experiencing challenges in your career, relationships and with self-esteem, but your manifesto is not these issues—it’s the person you are underneath them.
Your manifesto is about realizing your deeper self. It’s about figuring out who is the real you—the man or woman beneath the veneer. The person that’s aching to be seen and brought into the light. It is your best self on display for the world to see.
Writing a manifesto.
As I mentioned before, we may think we know ourselves, but when we ask the insightful, probing questions, we discover we don’t really know ourselves at all.
Could you easily summarize who you are and what matters to you in just two or three sentences?
When we have a clear picture in our minds of our authentic selves, and we can translate that concept into words, our written manifesto becomes an expression of that to serve as a reminder and compass in our lives.
The manifesto guides our decisions and is a safe place to return in times of trouble when we may have forgotten who we are.
How to write a manifesto.
Check out these 8 steps on writing a manifesto:
1. Define and focus on your strengths
We were all born with many innate strengths, which we may or may not utilize. The key is to discover what they are and how to use them to live a more abundant life. Check out the book called the StrenthsFinder2.0 
, to help you identify and learn more about your top five strengths.
Build on your strengths rather than strengthening your weakness. This is a better use of your time and energy, and it gives you a real boost in self-confidence.
2. Figure out your values
What are the values you that define how you want to live your life and make decisions? Respect? Integrity? Kindness? Confidence? Sit down with a pen and paper and think of all the values that matter to you. Then try to narrow the list down to five or six.
You can see a list of values here to help you. If you have trouble narrowing down your list remember that some values may fall under the umbrella of one bigger core value. For example, kindness may be a manifestation of love for you. So love may be the core value rather than both love and kindness.
3. Consider your passions.
What makes you want to leap out of bed in the morning? What would you spend your time doing if money were no object? What engages you, fulfills you, and brings you joy? Perhaps it’s been a while since you’ve really been in touch with your passions. Take this time to dream and experiment with your heart. What would your perfect day look like in an ideal world? If you don’t know what it is, then take the time to find your passion.
4. What breaks your heart?
Do you cry when you watch the news or read romantic books? What about this beautiful broken world touches your soul and makes you want to take action? If you could be part of world change, where would you place yourself?
5. How do you want others to see you?
We all care about what other people think of us. What do you want people to say and think about you? If they were to describe you, what would you be proud to hear them say? List a few attributes, whether you believe people would describe you that way or not
