Gerald Platt has been a leader for more than a generation. His day job is as an emergency room doctor, and he has mentored residents for more than a decade. ER doctors work in high-pressure, high-stakes environments. Perhaps that’s why he developed the skill of condensing his wisdom into tight phrases he calls “mantras.” I blogged about one of them a few months ago.

At a recent leadership training, he mentioned his “100 mantras.” After the other men had left, I approached Gerald, and he shared many of his proverb-like mantras. I respect these ideas but have not mastered them all.

Here are just a few. These suggestions might enable you to build others up or improve your life. The text in parenthesis is my phrasing of the same idea.

* Fall in love with what it takes to be great; don’t fall in love with being great. (Loving the grind is the key to excellence for most endeavors.)
* It is easier to act your way into a feeling than feel your way into an action. (Starting something before you feel like it is usually more productive than waiting till you feel the urge.)
* Be hard to offend; try very hard not to offend. (Don’t be the sugar cookie or the steamroller.)
* Brevity with clarity is often ideal communication. (Long stories and fuzzy thinking obscure the truth.)
* Complaining is viral. (Don’t contaminate.)
* Never ruin an apology with an excuse.
* Be fluid because flexible is too rigid. (You have no idea how variable and uncertain life is.)
* Don’t pray for lighter burdens. Pray for greater strength. (Seek increased capacity, not easier tasks.)
* Progress from dependence to independence and finally interdependence but never codependence. (Children aspire to independence; some people get stuck at independence and miss the multi-dimensional joy and relief of interdependence. Codependence can be a clinical problem.)

If you find these mantras valuable, perhaps you think reminding yourself of them is worthwhile. There are multiple ways to remind yourself of what you consider life truths.

Some people put a rotating list on their phones; others may have file cards like my dad’s Rolodex, and some use a journal or notebook. I’m a three-ring-binder guy. My binder has different sections for how frequently I want to review the most diverse or the least impactful.

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Please share a couple of your important life lessons or mantras.

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Terry Moore, CCIM, is the author of Building Legacy Wealth: How to Build Wealth and Live a Life Worth Imitating. Read his “Welcome to My Blog.”

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