Discover the Four Superpowers of MOJO

It's hard believing that almost 11 months of the year have already come and gone. For some, these past 11 months have seen an incredible amount of growth. Others may not have been so lucky. As we close November, and prepare to end into December, few of us would hopefully take to reflecting on the year that has gone by , reminiscing the hits and the misses. Many will also start planning the year ahead, putting together the goals and plans, ambitions and investments and eventually resolutions for the next year.

This year, I invite you engage in a different way of exercising your reflections, by assessing your Mojo, at work and in life.

Mojo is the intrinsic inspiration and the inner peace we live with, no matter how hard and how challenging the life situation is. The two defining aspects of Mojo are – Intrinsic and Inner Peace.

Mojo is intrinsic and not extrinsic: Mojo is not something that is handed over to us, or provided to us by another person. Mojo is within us, is intrinsic. All of us already have Mojo inside is. Yes, we do! However, due to lack of awareness, we tend to always replace Mojo with motivation. And moment we talk of motivation, we think of a motivator – The external source of motivation - our organization policies, manager, partner, spouse, teacher or Guru.

Because the source of motivation is always external to us, the presence or absence of it is never seen as in our control. Consequently, we feel lacking agency and demotivated, and furiously search for a motivator – a new job, a new manager, a new partner, a new Guru or even a new gadget! ?Relentlessly searching, and extremely fatiguing.

Mojo needs to be discovered. A discovery of what is already inside of us. Because of years of cultural, and mental conditioning, Mojo has got hidden under the various layers. Once we discover it within us, it is no longer contained or hidden, and in fact spreads into each and every aspect of our lives- work, family and social.

Mojo is Inner Peace: The ultimate goal of every being, is to achieve peace. Be it physical, or psychological, or at a feeling level. Peace is the convergence of all positive human ?emotions , like tranquility, patience, respect, compassion, kindness, self-control, courage, or forgiveness. It is the ultimate objective across all religions, and civilizations. From Christianity ( Jesus being termed as the “Prince of Peace”), ?Hinduism ( calling Moksh and Nirvana as the ultimate goal), Buddhism (calling peace as the final goal, attained by ending pain and suffering), to Islam(the word Islam itself?derived from the root word?salam?which literally means peace). There can never be external peace, without internal peace. The inner peace radiates to the outside. It is never the other way round.

Thus, flourishing Mojo within us- that source of intrinsic inspiration and inner peace, is the ultimate way to remain motivated in the chaotic and turbulent world around us. I have shared in my earlier blog "The Myths and Truths about Motivation" the four fundamental enablers of Mojo. There are the four super powers that actually help flourish one’s Mojo.

1. Add what I do, to other’s goals: Our actions and achievements when connected ?with the goals of others around us ( Our manager, team, organization or our family members), builds a sense of shared accomplishment. A key factor for us to feel inspired.
2. Build bonds with others around: We are social animals. We need relationships, whether at work or outside, as relationships provide us a sense of belonging with others and induces peace n the form of compassion and kindness. It is critical to invest in building these bonds.
3. Identify how my values align with others: When at least a few of our deep held values ( values e.g.- to be recognized, power, earn money, nurture others, work hard, etc) are in alignment with the values of our team, community and/or organization, it makes us feel more complete. This drives us to look inward for inspiration rather than outward, because we build more of what we already are.
4. Accept what is and what isn’t : We accept and surrender to the present. It does not mean we retreat or accept defeat, but about identifying what is and isn’t in our control, while preparing ourselves for the future. Acceptance is peace!

These are the ‘how to” of Mojo. Focusing on them flourishes Mojo in life, and in turn your relationship to uncertainty and empowers you to show up the way you truly want to — even (and especially!) when the circumstances around you are hitting you hard.

This time around, invitation is to spend some time reflecting on how much of these four super powers of Mojo have you been exercising or ignoring in the last one year.

SELF EXERCISE 1: As you review the year gone by, I encourage you to self assess your life through the lens of Mojo, by answering the following questions, as honestly and objectively as you can:

1. How often you felt your efforts were not being appreciated enough by others? List down the efforts that you felt went unrecognized. Were/ are there ways to reconnect these efforts to someone else’ goals? ( Add what I do, to other’s goals)
2. Do I have friends at work? Do we share thoughts beyond work with each other? Friends can be peers, juniors and even superiors at work. (Build bonds with others)
3. Have I identified at least one value I hold common with my manager, or teammates? In what ways and how often do we connect over our shared values? (Identify how my values align with others)
4. Do I carry work (especially frustrations), outside of workspace? Does work leave me anxious or does it provide positive energy? (Accept what is and what isn’t )???

SELF EXERCISE 2:: Evaluate each question on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the lowest score and 10 being the highest. Put a score for the year gone by, and then also put a score for where you would like the score to be in the coming year.

SELF EXERCISE 3:Finally, ask yourself, what one small step you would be willing to take, to move your score to where you want it to be for the next year!

The above exercises are an opportunity to self-assess where are you on your Mojo- ?intrinsic inspiration and the inner peace.? You may wish to answer these questions by writing down your responses and then again reviewing it over the next couple of weeks.

Coaching Tip: Staggering and revisiting your written down reflections creates distancing from your own impulse driven thoughts, and helps you see yourself from a 3rd person’s lens.?

At the end of this exercise you’ll hopefully discover where you are on your journey to discover your Mojo. By working on the exercises you will also discover that the more you are able to flourish your Mojo, the more you are in control of your life and destiny and accept what cannot be controlled. Happy Reflections!

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