Transforming a Motto into a Mission

Transforming a Motto into a Mission

By NAfME Member Lori Schwartz Reichl

“Having a motto matters because your life believes what you tell it!”―by Mike Foster

In Episode #17 of the Making Key Changes podcast and in the recent article titled “Mission Possible: It’s Never Too Late to Refresh the Vision,” the differences between vision and mission were defined. Vision is suggested as the “ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom.” Mission can be described as an aim, calling, or important assignment. Simply put, the vision is aspiration—it is where you want to go. The mission is the objective—it is a specific task. It is what you resolve to do to achieve the desired goal.

A motto can support a vision! It can help to excite, motivate, inspire pride, or encourage unity. A few magical words selected for a motto may assist with achieving the desired mission. A motto can envision the future, imagine the possibilities, and implement wisdom. Have you given thought to a motto’s potential and how this matters for achieving our greatest potential?

Personal and Professional Mottos

As I mentioned in podcast Episode #26 titled, “A Motto for Success,” my personal motto for many years, primarily when I was in my thirties, was “Embrace Your Uniqueness!” It inspired me to focus less on my limitations and instead to use my strengths or unique gifts to enhance my life or work. It was also a way to encourage others to “Embrace Their Uniqueness!” It was like saying, “Be You,” “Do You,” or “Be True to You.” As time went on, I dropped the middle word, “your” and simply stated, “Embrace Uniqueness!” This encouraged me to experience the beauty in everything and everyone and to accept everyone’s unique traits and amazing strengths. It was as if I was on a mission to discover the value of everything and everyone including my family, friends, colleagues, and students.

I still consider “Embrace Uniqueness!” to be my motto for many aspects of life. However, both in my personal and professional life, I strongly employ the motto “Making Key Changes.” The mission of this motto is to guide myself, along with organizations, teams, and individuals, to reflect on our daily practices and provide actionable key changes to create and maintain a shared vision in our communities, companies, classrooms, and careers. Together, we can unlock our greatest potential in collaboration with those we love, serve, and lead.

Have you created a motto yet? If yes, what is it? If you haven’t created one yet, then why not? Do you have a motto but realize it might need to be altered? Who created it? When was it made? Why was it made? Does it still serve its purpose? Does it reflect the current culture and represent the current population of people it is serving? How has it influenced your mission? How could a motto envision the future, imagine possibilities, implement wisdom, and achieve a mission?

Creating a Motto in Collaboration with Others

When you create a motto for yourself, there may not be a need to involve others. However, when we want to use a motto to influence our teams, including them in its creation may be essential. A motto may help to transform our thoughts into an achievable mission. This could be the key change needed to reach our greatest potential—either on our own or with others. Think about how reciting a motto, believing in it, living it, and learning from it can inspire you and motivate others.

Consider these three key changes to transform your motto into a mission:

1. Reflect: To reflect means to think deeply.

• • What’s your story? Our story could be our personal or professional life.
  • Whom does your story include and who is part of your team? We can consider a team in many ways, such as our family, our classroom, our sports team, our musical ensemble, our department, our group of colleagues, or the employees we supervise.
  • How are these people involved in the story? If we want all contributors to be heard, seen, and understood then we need to allow them to be included in this reflection process.

2. Research: To research means to examine or explore.

• • What key changes do you and they want to make to this evolving story?
  • What actionable key changes can you consider that will ensure all contributors are valued and can thrive as the story unfolds?

3. Refresh: To refresh means to give new strength.

• • In music, this is referred to as a key change—it is a shift in the tonal center of a piece of music, often used to inject energy or produce significance. It is of great importance to intensify a song. Making key changes in our own lives can create energy and produce significance, too. This intensification can apply to ourselves and those we love, serve, and lead.
  • How will all contributors make these key changes to our story? Key changes should be achieved with confidence, care, energy, and significance. Resources and support may be needed.

Be creative. Be concise. Be committed. Be willing to include everyone in the creation of the motto. Your mission is possible, and a key change (just like in music), may help to center you and others by injecting energy or producing significance in the mission through the simple addition or alteration of a motto.

If you haven’t created a motto yet, this should be your first mission for “Making Key Changes” and to do so collaboratively with everyone involved in your story so you can successfully “Embrace Uniqueness!” Did you get what I did there with my two mottos? Mottos work! Transform your motto into a mission and discover everyone’s greatest potential fulfilled.

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This article directly aligns with the Making Key Changes podcast episode

#27: Transforming a Motto into a Mission which aired on July 30, 2024. Listen to the podcast and all episodes here: MakingKeyChanges.com/podcast

About the author:

NAfME member Dr. Lori Schwartz Reichl is the visionary thought leader of Making Key Changes. Her career began in music education where she learned the importance of a key change — a shift in the tonal center of a piece of music, often used to inject energy or produce significance. She eventually realized the necessity and impact of making key changes in all areas of her life.

Since transitioning out of one classroom as a public school educator, Dr. Reichl has uniquely created a global classroom for her work. She guides organizations, teams, and individuals to create and maintain a shared vision by making key changes in their communities, companies, classrooms, and careers to unlock their greatest potential in collaboration with those they love, serve, and lead.

Learn more about Dr. Lori Schwartz Reichl at MakingKeyChanges.com. Subscribe to her Making Key Changes newsletter. Listen to her weekly podcast.

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