MojoDave

Non-human Partners Can Increase Your Mojo I know of four ways that non-humans are used by people to help their mojo, especially their motivation. Inanimate objects to relieve stress Companion animals Medical Effects  Running 1. Inanimate objects Some people get stress relief by being around trees, plants, scenery, mountains, etc.  People look for something to make them more relaxed.  If you feel relaxed then you are relaxed and it could be physical, that is have a scientific basis , or psychological. Why is immaterial.  For some, its the beach.  For others, its mountains, or water, or sunsets.  No matter what you like, the right environment can give you a feeling of well-being that is real, even if it has no explanation.  Who am I to say they are wrong?  To perform at your best (or with maximum mojo), you need to be relaxed.  It doesn't matter how you get there or whether or not there is a scientific basis for your belief. ...

Top Ten Sites You Must See It took  a lot of mojo to build these.  They will inspire your own mojo.  Many sources make lists. I have used them to build my own list for you.  Wikipedia is a source that does a good job of describing how a list is built.  But I don't rely on it for the list itself.  Instead, I have used several other lists to build my own for you.  I used World Atlas, Wonderslist ,  YouQueen , and 100 Wonders of the World as my sources.  In compiling my list, I emphasized human achievement, intrepidity,  and steadfastness. The people who built these wonders did not take no for an answer.  Their visions were at times unpopular, even ridiculed.  But through shear ingenuity and hard work, they got an amazing feat done.   I considered being early and not having an example of something similar to look at as qualifiers.  These wonders must of course be man-made.  They must not be  simply...

No Motivation To Study? Can't study? Can't concentrate?  Read this post and find out how you can make studying easier. Many students have asked about having enough motivation to study. I will explain how to get more motivation.  Motivation is a key part of mojo, as I have said in an earlier post. Studying is easy for some, usually those who are very gifted (have a high IQ).  For the rest of us, we need mojo.  And a key ingredient in mojo is motivation. See the image at the right for more detail. I have been asked and answered similar questions about studying on Quora.  Here are a few: 1. If I had to stay up all night for studying could I still make my muscle workout the next day if I wanted too? Answered 20190521 as follows: You could, but you shouldn’t. I once stayed up studying all night and ran the next day with my cross country teammates. It wasn’t pretty. Sure, I did it, but did I gain anything? I was weak and slooow. Slee...

What Is Experience? Are you too old or just experienced? Do you need more experience? I have asserted that experience is a big part of mojo , but when is enough, enough?  When are you just too old ?  The best way to answer these questions is to consider age and experience as separate things.  It is possible for a very young person to have a lot of experience as well as for an old person to have almost none.  In other words, your age doesn't tell you how much experience you have. You can never have too much experience, but it is better to get it as early as possible.  If your biological age is advanced, but you feel good and have taken care of yourself, then more experience can help you.  Also, do not make the mistake of believing that a young person cannot have much experience.  That person might have started at an even younger age and have more experience than you. Why does experience help you? You have seen it before.  You have a...

Comparisons and Mojo This blog is about mojo.  Mojo is important in many human endeavors to determine your performance.  Some endeavors are more objective than others.  When making a comparison of performance, it is easier to do if the endeavor is as objective as possible.  There is much debate about what is objective and what is subjective, especially in Olympic-type sports .  I do not want to discuss which sports are worthy of an Olympic medal here.  Instead, I will consider a range of objective to subjective human endeavors,  I'll list a few and select one on the objective side of the range to analyze  If you enjoy a fairly objective activity, it will obviously be easier to make comparisons between yourself and yourself at an earlier time or between yourself and someone else. Activities (Ordered by subjectivity, least to most) Putting the shot High Jumping Long jumping Running 100 meters Downhill skiing Soccer Water ...

Top Ten Internal Motivation Blogs In a previous post, I asserted that motivation is a key component of mojo. In particular, motivation includes both internal and external motivation. Internal motivation is called intrinsic motivation in scientific circles. I consider these two names to be synonymous. I don't discuss internal motivation very much because I have always had plenty of it and don't explain it very well.  This is understandable if you note that excellent players in many sports make poor coaches.  They can't explain what they did as well as players who worked very hard to reach their positions, like lower level players.  These lower level players can become great coaches. Instead of a discussion, I offer a top ten list of blogs about internal motivation.  If you read my bio , you know that I was trained as an engineer.  Consequently, I like reality-based blogs, blogs that use science and  facts.  I dislike blogs that are too flaky...

Age and mojo How old can you be to start an activity? You have probably heard all of these: Age is just a number You are never too old  Youth isn’t all it’s cracked up to be There is no age limit to anything On the other hand, proverbial wisdom says: Youth must be served You need to do something for 10,000 hours before you can be good at it, If you fail early, you can learn from the experience before others even get started. It is easier to adopt good habits when you are young. These statements conflict with other. What is the truth? I will discuss four different ways of looking at age. Average “best” age Inspiration from outstanding performances at advanced ages Age limiting factors Age preventative measure People speak of a peak age for any given event. The best way to look at age is as a probability. For example, the probable peak age for a female gymnast is in the early teens. The probable peak age for a sprinter is in the lat...

Faith and Mojo I explained earlier that I believe faith is essential to having your mojo worki n'.  Both faith and willingness to act are key contributors to mojo.  It is important to distinguish between faith and a willingness to act.  Faith is a durable trait.  It is tested over many events.  It's a persistent characteristic expressed over a long period of time. On the other hand, willingness to act, while also a trait, is tested by single events.  Sometimes a person who has willingness to act is said to be a "clutch performer."  A willingness to act is often a desire to take responsibility for a particular outcome or a group action. This post will concentrate on faith. Webster defines faith as 1 a : allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty lost faith ...

Learning To Pray This is a true story. It actually happened to me.  If you read my bio, you will know that I had a West Nile v iral infection from a kidney transplant in 2009.  I was immunosupressed to protect the transplant, and so I got neuro-invasive disease leading to profound weakness.  Every muscle in my body stopped receiving signals from my brain.  I was so weak that I couldn't even breathe on my own.  I was put on a ventilator in the ICU. After a few months. when I got strong enough to wean off the ventilator, I was moved to a rehabilitation hospital.  There, I could breathe and move my fingers and neck a little.  I was basically paralyzed, confined to a hospital bed.  They gave me a call button so I could let the nurses know when I needed help with an itch, a pain, the bathroom, or other sudden need. During the night, the button was placed in my palm so that I could make the call.  Not good enough.  If it happen...