Episode 159: Best Of The Portia Project: Guest Mottos
Hear some of the most impactful and profound personal and professional mottos
00:14:35
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Show Notes
In this episode, we get to hear some of the most impactful and profound personal and professional mottos that The Portia Project guests have shared on the show. Whether we can articulate it or not, we each have our own motto that we live by, and women in law are no different. You’d be amazed at just how many of these mottos you will resonate with. Most probably all of them. Tune in to find out and be inspired!
Transcript
Former Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Christine Durham
There's a little mantra. I have for years used in the shower when I'm getting ready and reviewing the day and so on, to say, "You can do this." We all need to remind ourselves that we are capable of doing what we have said we will do and what we have committed to doing. All of us experience Imposter syndrome in many settings. Women, in particular, tend to downplay their capabilities and to have absorbed some of what the larger society has told them about their capabilities. It's pretty simple. It's not profound but the notion that you can do this is important to me. It's gotten me out of the shower and into my high heels on many occasions.
Presiding Judge of the Civil Division of the Los Angeles Superior Court Michelle Williams Court
Have courage and be kind.
United States Magistrate Judge Karen Scott
“Love is the name of the game.” A motto isn't necessarily professional but it comes from personal life as well as spiritual places. When I think about what it is that should animate, it gives you purpose and help you get out there to try and make things better. All of that comes under the umbrella of loving other people and your community and trying to serve them the best you can.
Former California Court of Appeal Justice Margaret Grignon
My motto is courage and that means a lot of things. There's physical courage, which none of us usually have to evidence often. It doesn't come up often. There's moral courage. There's the courage to admit when you're wrong. There's the courage to see things from different perspectives than your own. It's a sense of doing things that are uncomfortable, scare you, or are important and facing them head-on.
Ohio Court of Appeal Justice Christine Mayle
My motto is probably, “Life is short.” I try and remember that if I'm getting too much anxiety about the day-to-day things or worried about how this is going to happen that life is short, to try and take a step back, tell the people you love them, and spend the time on Earth that you have, and doing what you want it to be doing. Especially these last few years have been so hard for many of us. I lost both my parents in 2020 within 60 days of each other. It was a hard time. It also made me reflect on how precious this life is and how short it is, so we should focus on the important things. It's easier said than done.
U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal
The motto is probably, “Solvitur ambulando,” which I'm not showing off. I didn't make it up. It's a poem. It means everything can be solved by walking.
California Court of Appeal Justice Joanne Motoike
This is a motto that I try to live by and it is, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the number of moments that take your breath away.” That’s something I've always kept with me.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the number of moments that take your breath away.
California Court of Appeal Justice Adrienne Grover
I have a professional motto and a personal motto. My professional motto is to see the world as others see it. Not that you'll get to their viewpoint, but I think it's a healthy place to start and a healthy way to look at where other people are coming from. My personal motto, which I would put on a family crest if I had one, is memento mori, which sounds a little better. Remember death, but you have to live in a way that we don't know how long it's going to last so you would be content with whatever happens to you tomorrow.
See the world as others see it.
Arizona Supreme Court Justice Ann Scott Timmer
Be kind to people and forgive them when needed. Give people a second chance.
General Counsel of the American Bar Association, Annaliese Fleming
I don’t know that I think about it in this world all of the time, but it’s definitely to persevere. Things can always get better. Sometimes they get worse, but they can always get better, too. If you get stuck in a moment, you can remain there. I prefer to always think ahead, try to figure out how to improve things, and how I want to get where I’m going even if I have some setbacks or things that I have to contend with along the way. It is to persevere, keep trying, keep going, and keep moving forward. That is a lot of words, but the motto can be summed up as persevere.
Founder of the Veterans Legal Institute®, Antoinette Naddour
My motto is to move forward. It's so easy sometimes to fall into the attitude of, “I'm overwhelmed. Things are hard. Why did this happen to me?” When that happens, you got to stop, take a breath and then move forward. Life is short. You got to enjoy it.
Orange County Supervisor for the Fifth District, Katrina Foley
Never give up. That's my motto.
Arizona Trial Court Judge Danielle Viola
I'm not really a motto person but I have two things that come to mind when I think about a motto. I read something about asking yourself if something is going to matter in five years. I have started to ask myself that question when I am either choosing to do something or choosing how to react to something. I find that it is centering and affirming of making a choice about how you want to spend your time and how you want to react to certain situations. I've definitely tried to adopt that in parenting. There's a piece of that too that is connected.
The other thing that I aspire to is to think about, "Am I being kind and am I helping someone?” The reason that I pick those two things to think about is my father-in-law passed a couple of years ago. We were attending the service. Person after person commented on how helpful or kind he had been to them at whatever moment over the course of their lives. It wasn't about the awards that he had, how far he achieved in his profession, accolades, or anything like that. It kept coming back to simple things related to the way that he treated people and how he made people feel.
I try to remember that when I am interacting with people, whether it's for the first time or the only time. We meet a lot of people in our lives that we're never ever going to see again, like service providers, other parents, maybe in the community, or people that we come together with for a short period of time. I hope that when they think about me at some later point, they're able to say those two things that I either helped them or at least that they remember that I was kind to them.
CEO of Project Hope Alliance, Jennifer Friend
Anything can happen if you let it. It's funny because Mary Poppins says that in Mary Poppins the Musical, but it's almost verbatim. It's similar to Nelson Mandela's, “Anything is impossible until it's done.” It’s from two different people, but the thought that you don't say something is impossible until you try to get it done. You have to believe that anything is possible for it to be so.
Anything can happen if you let it.
D.C. Court of Appeals Justice, Anna Blackburne-Rigsby
One thing I say a lot, I call them my three F’s, Faith, Family, and Fortitude. I think of myself as having strong personal faith and that's why I serve and choose to serve in different ways. My immediate and extended biological family is important, but also I think of family broader like extended family, community, and village. Also, fortitude that life has challenges and many joys, mountains, and valleys, and that you can do it.
Clerk of the Court for the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Molly Dwyer
My kids will tell you that is easy. I repeat it all the time, "You do not get what you do not ask for." You might not get it anyway. You definitely do not get it if you don't ask for it. I have applied for lots of jobs that I did not get over the years but I wanted them so I tried to get them. It doesn't make it a mistake. A lot of people play super cautious. They just want to do what they think they can do but that deprives you of all kinds of opportunities.
You don’t get what you don’t ask for.
Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Holly Kirby
My motto is to embrace change. I’ve told my children that the only thing that will be with you your whole life is change. You might as well realize that. Oftentimes, changes feel unwelcome, but you have to move toward them and not be afraid of them. Realize as soon as you get everything the way you want it, it's going to change and lean into that.
Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal (Fourth Appellate District, Division Three) Kathleen O’Leary
“There is no shame in failing. There's shame in failing to try.” If you want to stay in your little comfort zone and never take a risk, you are never going to get ahead. When you take a risk, and if it doesn't work out, then own it. If you made a mistake, learn from the mistake and move on. You can't sit with your head on the ground and not do anything. You need to keep moving forward.