Mojo is that magical charisma you carry that makes you feel good and infectious to others.
New beginnings are the most exciting and energizing times in life. Summer is always a new beginning because it’s a new season. Now is a great time to get excited, motivated, and start making changes to get to your next level of YOU.
If you’ve lost your mojo and want to be a better you this summer, here are 8 steps to getting your mojo back and keeping it flourishing.
1. Change your environment: Changing the appearance and location of your differing environments helps you to think in more differently and innovatively. The more innovative you are, the more mojo you have.
- Work part-time out of the office
- Redecorate your house and add more color
- Spend time on your patio
- Leave your cubical and go out for lunch
- Getting tired? Get up and move to another room
- Add music or white noise to create something soothing
2. Strive to be your best: Visualize your “ideal self,” the part of you that encourages you forward, holding up the guideposts and possibilities for your growth, happiness and expansion. What you think determines your outcome.
Imagine meeting your “ideal self” at the finish line. As Pablo Picasso said, “Everything you can imagine is real.” You will feel your confidence growing as you begin to manifest all you have been working towards.
3. Change Your Patterns: To create a new life you must first break your old habits and routines. The familiarity of old habits and routines keep you stuck inside their comfort. To get your mojo back, be brave!
Buy that Groupon for the new class around the corner and give it a go. Change your diet, your work out, or your wardrobe; buy different make-up, and class-up your personal style. Eat at new restaurants and go to new bars. Try raising your heart rate before you get to the office. If you eat at the same restaurant for lunch all the time, walk one block farther to check out a new spot. See what happens by simply sitting on the other side of your desk, and gain a new perspective by looking out at different wall or window.
4. Shift Your Priorities: Your daily schedule is a reflection of your deepest priorities. If you have zero fun, free time or time for family and friends on your calendar, and instead your calendar is booked up with meetings and other task oriented responsibilities, then you are missing out on the juiciest parts of life. Robots do not have mojo.
To re-ignite your mojo schedule time for yourself first. On a plane they always tell you to put on your oxygen mask before helping someone else. Once you have given yourself time to refuel, block times to enjoy with family, friends and children to add joy and vitality to your life. No one on her death bed looks back and wishes she had worked more hours.
5. Invest in personal growth: The best of the best have the best of the best of the best as mentors, friends, family and colleagues. Learn as much as you possibly can from other successful, happy people who want to share their wisdom with you.
The ball is in your court: Make the effort to keep yourself in a place of personal expansion, whether that means going to seminars, meeting weekly with a coach or therapist, reading books or writing goals, and strive to be your very best at all time. This always gives you something to talk about and it makes you interesting to other people.
6. Change your friends: The people with whom you surround yourself heavily influence you. If you’re lacking motivation and feeling down about everything, it might be time to upgrade your circle of influence. Both negativity and positivity are contagious. Surround yourself with those who bring out your best qualities, including your mojo for life’s adventures.
If more time with family is important to you then start planning some vacations and stay-cations for all you to get away and enjoy being a family without other distractions.
Take time out to have dinner with the girls or watch the game with the boys or go play a round of golf. Your emotional net worth is the average of that of your five closest friends. When you hang out with successful, happy, fulfilled people you elevate your own mojo, so choose wisely.
7. Change Your Thoughts: You are what you think. You cannot have negative thoughts and have powerfully positive mojo. If you think you are fat then that will be your experience whether you are or aren’t. Negative thinking doesn’t accomplish anything; it takes zero effort and is a lazy mojo-stealing habit.
Discipline your mind towards the goals of what you want to look like and be like and start putting effort in right now to get there. By summer’s end you will feel fabulous. Know the areas of your life you want to change and be deliberate in changing them.
8. Be Authentic: Nothing is sexier than being beautiful inside and out. When you are committed to your loving and respecting yourself you exude a quiet confidence. Your focus is on being genuine, kind, strong, courageous, intelligent, successful, elegant, steadfast and fulfilled. You possess enough composure that if you cannot say something kind you have the wisdom to remain quiet.
You make sure the kindness of your character speaks more deliberately about who you are than whatever designer you are wearing.
True mojo is not a loud energy; it is an understated energy. Your mojo is that more subtle energy your personal essence leaves in the wake of your presence. This is something to admire. There is nothing more mojo promoting than authenticity and having a strong sense of who you are.
Face it – feeling passionate and motivated every day for your work, family and self is a win for yourself and those that depend on you.
Sherrie Campbell, PhD is a veteran, licensed Psychologist providing counseling and psychotherapy services to residents of Yorba Linda, Irvine, Anaheim, Fullerton and Brea, California. Her new book is Loving Yourself : The Mastery of Being Your Own Person. Find out more at Sherriecampbellphd.com.