WTF is a Manifesto

The other day, I read a post on Medium by some guy and in it, he declared, "This is my manifesto." I thought to myself, "Really? Is that what I'm reading?"

Then, later on I was looking at this lady's website and saw that she had manifestos for sale. For nearly $900, she would work with you on creating your very own personalized manifesto. This led to the question:

WTF is a manifesto and why would a person pay $900 to create one?

So, last night, I decided to ask Google, since Google knows EVERYTHING. Google replied:

Then, I did some more digging and I found an article on one of my favorite websites that started like this:

If I were to say the word “manifesto,” you might think of either Communists or serial killers. This is understandable; the word has taken a beating over the years.

That statement cracked me up, but I was nodding in agreement because that's when I remembered that IS where you normally heard about manifestos, after some killer had killed a bunch of people and himself, they would say that the police found his manifesto when they raided his hideout.

I did some more digging and found an article about 10 Insanely Awesome Inspirational Manifestos, among which I saw this one:

I'd been a fan of this for quite some time but never knew that it was a manifesto. It was just some inspirational words...but then again, essentially that's what a manifesto is. You've probably seen this, right? (And duh to me because it says MANIFESTO in the fine print)

Then I saw this one which I really like:

So, I've officially added "write my manifesto" to my to-do list. I imagine that it will be filled with a lot of Jay-Z lyrics because he's very inspirational to me, as they say in Dothraki, me nem nesa (it is known).

The "rules" for writing the manifesto, as I understand them, are as follows:

• Determine what's important to you - the types of behaviors and actions that you think make you YOU. What inspires you? What do you want? What will help you be a better person to yourself and others? What do you stand for?
• It should be filled with definitive statements - DO, STOP, DON'T, I WILL, I MUST, etc. None of that "maybe/should/kinda/sorta" stuff.
• It should be something that you can read each day. Preferably in the morning to get your day started and maybe at night before you go to bed to remind you who you are.

Your manifesto can and should be a part of your brand - YOU, the brand. Maybe it's the replacement of the old school mission statement that large companies had (but probably rarely followed). 

Dig around the internet for things that may inspire you if you want to write your own manifesto and most of all, have fun with it.