Taken from a recent edition of “The Insight”.
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Where did my mojo go?
It probably won’t surprise you to know, this is a question I’ve heard A LOT since the turn of the year.
The winter weather… the dark mornings and evenings… that feeling of Groundhog Day…
We thought 2021 would be different…
Another bloody Lockdown… Can’t meet anyone… Endless hours on Zoom or Teams…
Nothing to look forward to… No holidays… No coffees out… No pub… No weekend adventures…
It’s no wonder our mojo began to fade.
I consider myself a pretty positive and upbeat kind of bloke. I’m incredibly passionate about what I do. Generally speaking, I absolutely adore my work. And yet, I found myself staring at a mountain of work, wondering whether I could summon the energy to attack it. All I could see was a vast expanse of back-to-back sessions that needed preparing, delivering and reviewing. For a moment, I experienced that unpleasant sensation – a blend of feeling a little daunted, slightly overwhelmed by it all, and almost wishing I didn’t have to do it.
Then I stopped and the light went on in my head.
There was a reason I was struggling.
I was only focusing on ‘the what’. It was just a set of tasks… things on a things-to-do list. I could only see what I needed to do, and I’d lost sight of why I was doing it. It took me a moment to realise why I was delivering these sessions, the importance of doing them well and the impact they could have.
As soon as I re-connected with ‘the why’, I felt that fire start to rekindle and the mojo returning.
When I stopped to think, the pieces fell into place. A lot of people had also lost their ‘why’… their reason to do it. A lot of the business leaders I was chatting to lived for their holidays, for the weekends and the lifestyle that their work afforded them.
The problem is, during Lockdown, our lifestyle doesn’t have a great deal of life or style.
And, if your why… your reason… is built around your lifestyle, Lockdown will strip it away pretty fast.
When we lose sight of our ‘why’, we start to ask… “What’s the point?”.
It literally means, we can’t see the reason to do it.
So, what’s the solution?
Personally, I’ve found that a strong ‘why’ requires a couple of key ingredients.
- An exciting vision.
- An important purpose.
These two sound obvious, but they’re pretty rare.
Bizarrely, when I looked at the little statement of my own vision, written at the top of my one-page strategy, it didn’t excite me. I literally laughed out loud as I read it to myself. It was pathetic! So, I invested a little time envisioning a future that I really wanted.
I find it really helps to stop and reconnect my simple, everyday tasks with my ‘why’.
Why is this important?
How does it help me get that little step closer to my exciting vision?
Just those two questions give the ‘thing’ on my things-to-do list that little bit more meaning and purpose. It helps make that mountain of jobs look a little less daunting and sparks my mojo.
Footnote…
Meaning & Purpose is the first of my Six Pillars of Mental & Emotional Health. If you’d like to find out more, click the link below…