MojoDave

 The Truth About Muscle Confusion  Muscle confusion in an exercise context is a controversial subject, replete with marketing hype.  I have my own ideas of how muscle confusion can be helpful to you if you think of it correctly.  While it is true that muscle confusion alone might not make your muscles bigger, it might help most by giving you variety and interest in your workouts. Variety is one of my favorite forms of external motivation.  You can use it to improve your mojo .  You may even get some conversion of it to internal motivation.  If you are doing the same thing over and over again, it can get boring. This saps motivation. Use variety to help you stay interested. Research shows that your muscles will only get bigger from progressive stress.  So can muscle confusion help?  Muscle confusion, I admit, is oversold.  But it can make workouts more interesting and less boring as well as work different fibers and/or aspects of...

Luck is one of the components of mojo, as I have said in an earlier post . However, it is important to understand a few things about luck.  For one, almost nobody is lucky all the time.  Only when a person is gone can you consider whether or not they were lucky.  Being lucky means you had better than average luck more often than not.  Luck over a lifetime is one of many things that follows a Gaussian curve , as illustrated in Figure 1.  At the tails you have people whose luck has been very, very good or very, very bad.  In the middle are people (many more people) whose luck averages out over a lifetime. Now consider a person who is far luckier (or unluckier) than average so far.  There is no indication from what has happened so far as to what will happen in the next event from a pure luck standpoint. During a lifetime, luck can change many times in many ways.   It was Branch Rickey  who was reported to have said, ...

What to do when you lose a partner Suppose you are relying on external motivation from a partner to help with your mojo .  Suddenly, your partner is not available.  What to do? You have to find more external motivators. Go back to basics. See if you can apply some of the other external motivators. For example, apply variety to friends, or find another friend. Equivalently, what if you have a sudden deficit of external motivators, and insufficient internal motivators or other components of mojo.  I answered a similar question on Quora about an injured running partner. A running partner is a kind of friend who can help your running motivation. Finding another friend may sound crass, but unlike a spouse, it is okay to have more than one. Whether you have multiple partners at the same time or get another when the first becomes unavailable is up to you. Also remember that a partner does not have to be human. One thing I emphasized in my answer was not to forget or...

Systems or goals? On Quora, I was recently asked, "Is it necessary to set a goal so that you feel motivated to jump out of your bed every mornin g?" I think not. Consider the pros and cons of goals verses systems.  I think you will agree with me.  Goals Pros: Well defined, specific, easily time limited, easily measured. Cons: What do you do if they are met.? What do you do if time goes by and they are not met?  It's easy to rationalize waiting to test. Inflexible. Systems Pros: No time limit, usually a lifestyle change, flexible, adaptable to circumstances, systems become habits. Cons: No time limit, no well defined tests.   What comes after you test your goal?  Better to shoot for a process or a system. Find a system that you like instead of a goal. For example, you might say to yourself, "I am a runner."  "I will run regularly."  Each day, you get up and know that running is a process, a part of your being, that you will wan...

Self-consciousness and motivation - getting a partner Running Together I wrote some of this in answer to a previous question on Quora , "How can a person become less self conscious and gain more confidence?"  One way that I highly recommend is to run with a partner. He or she or it (a pet works too) will help to take your mind off yourself. If the partner can talk, even better. Just watching out for the partner will help you to be less self-conscious and might even make you a better runner. Benefits of a talking partner Advice related to the activity General life advice Encouragement Competition Practice negotiation Familiarity Empathy Shift of focus from inward to outward  If your partner can talk to you, you will find them a generous source of advice about whatever activity you are sharing.  After your mutual efforts together, you might find them also to be a good source of advice on more general topics. Your partner can encourage yo...

Overcoming Anxiety with Mojo I have been asked on Quora how to overcome anxiety or use anxiety to build motivation, which will aid in your Figure 1. An anxious woman mojo.  It is possible if you have enough motivation, to use motivation to overcome anxiety and fear. But anxiety and fear do not motivate you.  Remember that I have described how motivation is a key contributor to mojo in an earlier post . Anxiety and fear are inputs that generate a reaction. Usually, the inputs are or are said to be negative or difficult. Think “performance anxiety” as an example. The most significant contributor to mojo is motivation, either internal or external. If an actor's mojo is strong enough, that actor can overcome the anxiety and perform anyway or contribute more to a team's performance. The best directors and coaches choose the actors with the most mojo to perform the hardest tasks Their superior mojo allows them to resist anxiety and fear and inspire other...

Triathlon Start in the Pacific Ocean Variety, friends, and rivals I have been asked, ”How do you exercise with no motivation?" Internal motivation is a trait that you have a certain amount of inside of you at any given time. I, for example, have always had a lot. But the amount that anyone has at a given time may not be sufficient to get your mojo working. That is why I recommend external factors that you can employ to help you. Recommended External Motivators Variety Friends Rivals Once you get out there and do something because of these factors, it may become habitual, or the external motivation may become internal. It doesn’t really matter why. It only matters that you are. Accept that you may need help from outside for motivation and be happy that it is possible. If it is converted to internal motivation, great! Use it. In any event, use external motivation whenever it is available. Here are the three external motivators of which I am aware: variety, friend...

Converting external motivation to internal motivation In a previous post, I asserted that motivation is the key ingredient in mojo and that it can be internal or external. I have been asked how external motivation can be converted to internal motivation. Some people are lucky enough that conversion can happen. The question is if you have insufficient internal motivators, can you convert external motivators so that you make up for the deficit. Unfortunately, conversion happens to varying extents and isn’t predictable nor can it be forced. You are more likely to be successful by finding additional external motivators. Sometimes conversion just happens. Sometimes it will not happen. Sometimes you get a little conversion. You are more likely to be successful by finding additional external motiva tors i f vari ety, friends and rivals are not enough. Look for additional friends and/or rivals to help your motivation. Its okay to have more than one of each at a time. This...

Motivation - Internal or External Types of Motivation Motivation is a big part of mojo, maybe the most important part.  I like to consider two types of motivation, Motivation Internal External Both internal and external motivation can affect your mojo. Internal motivation comes from you alone. You might have it from birth or you might develop it. It is your drive, your impetus, your commitment. Everyone has a different amount of internal motivation for any given subject. One’s true internal motivation depends on being interested and excited about a given subject. In other words, unless you have a good fit with a subject, it will be difficult to gauge.your true internal motivation for that subject. Recommended External Motivators Variety Friends Rivals External motivation comes from something beyond yourself.  Most often, I recommend variety, friends,and rivals. More about these in another post . Just as an example, for a runner, friends mig...

Figure 1. The components of mojo. What makes up mojo? Merriam Webster says: Mojo is :” a magic spell, hex, or charm, broadly : magical power // works his mojo on the tennis court //The team has lost its mojo.“ I’m not sure about the magic part of it, but mojo is something that a person or group has to varying degrees. You know it when you see it, even if you can’t define it. Another example of such a thing was cited by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart who famously said in his 1964 Order , he could not use words to describe pornography but " I know it when I see it ." When something is not well understood, it is indistinguishable from magic . Maybe this is why people are often said to have their “mojo workin’” even if magic is irrelevant. Parts of Mojo motivation expertise experience support luck faith willingness to act. This blog will focus on motivation because it is such a big part of mojo and is often a poorly under...