Goofy Mantras
· 836 words · 4 min read
I’ve spent years dabbling in the kinds of things that make you sound a little unhinged at dinner parties: mindfulness, affirmations, sigils, orgonite — the whole hippie-nerd crossover catalogue. I’ve gotten real benefit from some of it and had a good laugh at the rest. But one practice that stuck is also the simplest: a daily mantra I say to myself. It’s never profound. It’s not polished. It’s a little goofy. And that’s why it works.
The Power of a Daily Reset
Most of us carry yesterday into today: a bad meeting, a missed workout, a short temper with the kids. The weight of small failures accumulates like compound interest.
A daily reset isn’t about pretending yesterday didn’t happen. It’s about refusing to let yesterday’s scoreboard dictate today’s game. The sun comes up, and so do you. That’s enough to call it a fresh start.
A short, goofy spoken phrase flips the scorecard back to zero. It clears the register and gives me permission to try again.
My Very Best
For years, I started my mornings with this line:
“Every day, I wake up, and I tell myself I’ll do my very best. And that’s what I do every day. And sometimes my best isn’t good enough, but that’s okay.”
It’s not a quote from a Stoic philosopher or a line from ancient scripture. It nods to Al Franken’s Stuart Smalley character. Autosuggestion and affirmations feel silly. I do them anyway.
The first part is about commitment: I will do my best. The second part is about grace: sometimes my best won’t cut it, and that’s fine. Together, they form a quiet pact with myself. I’ll show up. I’ll try. But I won’t beat myself up when things don’t go perfectly. Because they won’t.
My wife heard me say this aloud enough times that she would laugh and recite it along with me. That little moment of shared amusement reinforces the point: this stuff isn’t sacred. It’s supposed to be light. If you can’t laugh at your own humanity, you’re taking yourself too seriously. It’s been a while since I recited this particular phrase daily though.
“I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”
– Stuart Smalley
The Old Wheel
More recently, I’ve added another catchphrase to my pull-string. I had caught myself on autopilot, telling people “Oh, you know… Living the dream.” every time I was asked how I was doing. It rolled off the tongue too easily. It meant nothing. Worse, it wasn’t personal or mine.
So I swapped it out for something that felt more true:
“Every day is another chance to play—another spin of the old wheel.”
It’s more authentic and I don’t feel like I’m deflecting with a cliche. The “old wheel” isn’t a reference to anything specific. It’s just a mental image I like: a big, creaky carnival wheel. Some days it lands on a prize; some days it lands on a dud. But you get to spin it again tomorrow. That’s the gift.
Framing the day as “play” changes the emotional stakes. Play is low-pressure by definition. When you’re playing, you experiment, stumble, and laugh when things go sideways. Play doesn’t demand perfection. It just asks you to show up and take your turn.
The catchphrase also puts showing up front and center. It’s all too easy to analyze a situation to death and never take any action. The invitation to spin the wheel signifies that any opportunity not taken is an opportunity lost. We only get so many spins (days), so why waste any? Imagine stepping up to a game you’ve already paid for to just opt out. It’s almost inconceivable.
We don’t always win, but we’re blessed with the opportunity to stay in the game. This catchphrase is my way of showing gratitude while keeping the laughing child within alive.
Playing with Words
Saying these words aloud draws a line between the person who went to bed with yesterday’s baggage and the person waking up with a clean slate. The mantras don’t solve problems. They don’t make me more productive or more disciplined. They just give me a moment of deliberate neutrality before the day pulls me in a dozen directions. As a new dad, that’s huge.
I’m not suggesting you adopt my words. My mantras fit me because they came from me. Yours should fit you. If nothing else, you’ll give your partner or friends something to tease you about. That alone is probably worth it.
Yesterday’s mistakes follow you into today only if you invite them. A simple, slightly goofy mantra won’t change your life overnight. But it might, over time, change how you carry your life.
— ws
P.S. Writing this reminded me of an old blog post a friend shared with me years ago: Words matter! I’d like to take that thought a step further: our words don’t just matter; they shape who we become. The words we speak and think have a direct effect on how we live.