Qualifications are Important -- But Mojo is the Key to Your Success

I started coaching people on their career issues by accident. I was an HR leader. People came into my office every day to talk about problems. Sometimes they wanted to get promoted or change jobs inside our company.

Sometimes they wanted to leave the company.

I was their ally either way. If they really wanted to job-hunt outside the company I helped them do it and I kept their secret. If you care about Team Mojo in your company, you know that life is long and relationships are long, too.

You don't say "If you want to leave the company, you're on your own." What good would that do? They're going to leave, either way! Why not help a person achieve their goals?

Here's what I noticed. Most people are a thousand times more qualified than they think they are. People shoot too low in their career aspirations. They apply for lower-level jobs than they need to. They get fearful. Who can blame them? Who is standing on the sidelines cheering them on?

Sometimes if you're lucky, your spouse or partner is your cheerleader, but a lot of times our spouses and partners are overwhelmed and mojo-depleted themselves.

They might encourage you to shoot low, too, because they think it's easier to get a lower-level job. That's false!

When you apply for jobs below your capability, you're more likely to freak out the people you meet. You'll scare them with your competence and they'll hire someone else. That depletes your mojo even further!

Ninety-five percent of the time when we work with people who are frustrated in their careers, it turns out that they're shooting too low. They don't know it, because their instruments aren't functioning properly.

That's because they don't have any fuel in their tank. They've lost their mojo. They've forgotten how competent and qualified they are!

Everybody works too hard and they get burned out. It doesn't take much to knock you off your feet. Losing a job can do it. Pushing a rock uphill every day at work can do it, too.

When you work for someone who doesn't appreciate what you bring, you can start to think that you have a problem. You don't have a problem -- you're just working for the wrong boss!

Sadly, traditional job-search methodology and career advice dwells on the "how-to" aspect of career advancement and says almost nothing about the emotional component.

The truth is that your mojo is the fuel for everything you want to accomplish in your life. If you want to run a marathon, your mojo will get you through the rigorous training.

If you want to sing opera at the Met, ditto. Ask anybody who's successful in their field how they got where they are, and you'll hear the same thing: "I just kept at it." 

The number one thing you can do to boost your mojo is to take care of your body. We forget how important our bodies are.

We think our whole life plays out in our minds. We treat our mind like the king and our body like a beast of burden. We tell our body, "Work all night!" and "Now clean the garage!" and "Get fit!" We don't listen to our bodies, but our bodies are much smarter than our minds.

Your body registers the activity around you much better than your mind does. Your mind is always trying to calculate its way out of problems.

That's almost never the right answer. When you can relax and pay attention to the signals your body is sending you, your mojo will start to come back. 

The second thing you can do to invite your mojo back is to get a journal and write in it. Try to write every day or every other day. If you're not sure what to write about, here are some ideas:

• Write about what you did today -- who you talked to, what you talked about, what you ate and what you saw and heard
• Write about what you're thinking about
• Write about your dreams -- both your dreams for your life and what you dreamed about while you were sleeping
• Write about the important people in your life and what they mean to you
• Write about your pets. Your pets are on your side, unlike some of the people you spend the most time with!
• Write about your favorite music, films, books and art.
• Write about the things that make you happy and the things that bother you.
• Write about the times when you felt successful. Remind yourself that this mojo drop is temporary. You're still as awesome as ever!

Your self-esteem is a vital topic. It's not an afterthought. It's everything! Another degree won't solve your career problem. Neither will another promotion at work or any kind of gold star conferred on you by someone else.

Your power doesn't come from other people and their approval. It comes from inside you.

The learning that matters most for you comes from self-reflection and the "Ahas!' that come to you when you notice what you care about and what you want and need for yourself.

We almost never talk about self-awareness at work, and that's a shame. Part of our mission at Human Workplace is to re-establish self-awareness as a fundamental business topic - because it is one! It may be the most fundamental business topic there is.

Somebody has to tell you that you're perfect and it might as well be you. The minute you realize you're perfect now and don't need to change anything about yourself, you'll start to change. Isn't that wonderful?

Mother Nature is a wise old lady. She doesn't make any defective products. We tell ourselves a bunch of lies about our defects and our shortcomings. None of it is true.

You have so much power inside of you that you may frighten the people around you as you begin to let it out.

The stronger your muscles become and the fuller mojo fuel tank gets, the less you'll care what other people think. You'll speak with your own voice. You'll say "God bless the people who don't get me -- they don't deserve me!"

You control your life and career -- not your boss or your clients or anybody else. You will amaze yourself when you tap the power that's hidden deep inside you. 

Start by spending time and energy every day just refilling your fuel tank. There's nothing more important than that. You're worth that investment, aren't you? 

Our Company is called Human Workplace

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