How Motivation Helps Your Mojo

Comparing Motivation To Other Mojo Components

Click to tweet. Mojo and motivation are so closely linked that they are often confused. Merriam Webster says motivation is the condition of being motivated, and that motivated is having an incentive or a strong desire to do well or succeed in some pursuit.  In co-ntrast, Merriam Webster says mojo is a magic spell, hex, or charm.  If a strong desire to do well is internal, it might seem like magic to some. However, mojo is generally thought of after an actin takes place.  It is an evaluation of the output or the result of an action. Motivation is thought of as an evaluation of an input or the beginning of an action.  Moreover, there are no examples of having mojo without motivation. Clearly, there is a difference. I contend that motivation is one of the components of mojo.  In fact, I contend that it is the most important and biggest component.

Let’s compare motivation to the six other components of mojo, as I have laid them out in an earlier post  First,let’s consider the influence on mojo of motivation versus expertise.  It is possible to lack expertise, i. e., not know what you are doing, and still be successful.  If you have great support and motivation, you may succeed. If you have motivation and one or more of the other components of mojo, but lack the expertise, you may still succeed and even be said to have your mojo workin'.

Next, let’s consider the influence on mojo of motivation versus experience.  Experience doesn’t seem to be as important as it used to.  Consider how often young people succeed in professional sports.  Ask a quarterback if video games (yes, video games, although there are other ways to gain expertise without experience) give them an expertise that they wouldn’t otherwise have.  Sure, these people are motivated. However, they do not need to have excellence in every component that affects their mojo, particlularl;y not in experience.

Next, let’s consider the influence on mojo of motivation versus support.  There are many examples of people who have great mojo who come from broken homes or tough backgrounds.  They overcome a lack of a key pillar of support. Clearly, they must have motivation to do so. In most cases, they have strong support from some other factor.  However, what they really have is a significant motivation which contributes to their mojo.

Next, let’s consider the influence on mojo of motivation versus faith. Suppose you have great faith but lack motivation.  You may never get a chance to show that faith if your lack of motivation doesn’t get you started.  Contrarily, suppose you are motivated but lack faith. At least you will “get into the game.” But will your lack of faith impact your mojo?  This is tricky to understand because most people who have great mojo are reluctant to criticize their faith. But, as with support, there are many examples of people overcoming poor preparation which they don’t trust and going on to exhibit grear mojo.  What is most interesting is ignoring good advice and still having great mojo. And we can see this in anyone who says “I did it my way.” What that person is really saying is “I ignored what I heard from others and had the motivation to go ahead anyway.”  What they are really talking about is having more motivation than faith.This is evidence that motivation is more important to mojo than faith.

Next, let’s consider the influence on mojo of motivation versus luck.  If you believe, as I do, that luck tends to average out, it is hard to also believe that it is more important than motivation.  For more persuasion, consider the case of Aaron Rodgers throwing a “Hail Mary” pass. This situation is consider by most to be one in which luck plays a big role.  But even if luck is going to have a neutral effect on the outcome, who would you most want to have throwing the ball? A person with little motivation or Aaron Rodgers.  He has all of the other mojo components too, so he would be most likely to have a positive result even with a neutral luck component.

Lastly, let’s consider the influence on mojo of motivation versus willingness to act.  I can’t help but think of Lebron James here,  He is a great player, maybe the best ever at his position, but isn’t seen as a clutch performer.  Yet he has great mojo. Everyone wants him on their team and/or wants to play with him. So being a clutch performer isn’t necessary for mojo, but it is like the cherry on the sundae.  It can put you over the top.

To summarize, I have compared the effect of motivation on mojo to the effect of other mojo components.  There are examples of someone who has mojo without some of the other components. However, there is no other components that can give you motivation. Moreover, if you are motivated, you can acquire some of the other components.  Consequently, I conclude that motivation is the most important mojo component.