How You Can Kill Your Mojo

-


How To Kill Your Mojo


Mojo is rare. There are many extremely competent people who don’t have mojo. In a previous post, I have described how I see mojo and its components. But what if you already have mojo, or at least think you do, or want to demonstrate that you do? Well of course, you should do more of what I described, But that is not what I want to discuss in this post. Here, I want to tell you what NOT to do. These will be the things that you should avoid that will kill your mojo, or lead you in the opposite direction.

Selfishness - There are a few ways that selfishness can be seen.

  1. Thinking about your own statistics or performance instead of those of your group. You can have great statistics while your group does poorly. This will be noticed. Your mojo will suffer. In the alternative situation, your group does well and your statistics are overlooked. People will notice this too. It will increase your mojo.
  2. Failing to take responsibility. If your mess up, own it. People will notice this too, either way. The worst thing you can do is blame problems on someone else.
  3. Taking credit for things others have done. All selfish behaviors are going to be noticed by someone. This one robs the deserving party and hurts your mojo whenever it is noticed.
  4. Trying to do too much, especially on your own. This is another way to rob a deserving party of a chance to do well. In basketball, this is called “hero ball.” It rarely works. To avoid this, involve teammates in an activity.  You will get big mojo points.
  5. Believing that your preparation is due to you alone, not trainers, coaches, or managers, etc.  A person who doesn’t believe that their preparation is worthy of reliance lacks mojo.   Instead, such a person wants to go it alone. Not trusting your preparation is a sign of poor mojo.
Laziness - This can be a killer. And it will stick out.

  1. Not working hard will inhibit any possible improvement, but moreover it will be noticed by others. People with high mojo work at their craft. It is no accident that the person who is first in the building and last to leave is often the one with the most mojo. Take an example of Larry Bird. He didn’t stop his shooting practice once he got to be really good (some say the best). He was good because he continued to practice.
  2. Being smug, or assuming that there is nothing to be learned. The person who is good but has little mojo may think he is good and has nothing to learn. This is a recipe for failure. Those with high mojo are always looking for something in which to improve. In athletics, it may be the habit of concentrating on one area in the off season in which to improve. This common practice is a sign of mojo.
  3. Belief in luck. Over reliance on or belief in the effects of luck is a sure sign of not having mojo. A person who has mojo must be lucky, that is true, but to expect that only the lucky will win is a mistake. No one can predict luck.
Look for these signs, avoid them, and enjoy higher mojo.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
  Mojo Heroes And Antiheroes There are both heroes and antiheroes among people with high mojo. There is no law that says a person with high mojo has to be a nice person. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t. Let’s define anti-hero. Webster says an anti-hero is “a protagonist or notable figure who is conspicuously lacking in heroic qualities”. Examples of heroic qualities are strength, ability, achievement, courage, and nobility. The number of anti-heroes compared to heroes is greater in fiction than in real life. It is just more fun to write about or play the more complex characters typified by anti-heroes. It exploits the talents of the actors better. It also seems as if there are more anti-heroes today than in prior years. But all of the people I am about to mention had high mojo, whether hero or anti-hero. In an earlier post , I described the top 10 American people with high mojo. They were George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, Benjam...
Read more

10 Highest Mojo Colleges

-
Image
10 Highest Mojo Colleges Many sources make lists. Wikipedia is a source that does a good job of describing how a list is built. But I don't rely on it. Instead, I used endowment , acceptance rate , the US News rank , and my own judgement as my sources in making my list. sually, lists rank colleges for suitability for an individual or for best overall rank. However, mine ranks the colleges with the highest mojo, not the best academics, sports, campuses, etc. I included US News’ overall rank because a high placement on such a list is one indication (not the only one) of mojo. Another one that I use is endowment. If alumni have money ad want to give it to their alma mater, that indicates that the alma mater has mojo. Another indicator that I use is acceptance rate. If a lot more people apply to a college than are accepted, that is a further indication of mojo. Also note that the military academies are in a different group for purposes of evaluation, but I include a co...
Read more

How Mojo Works

-
Image
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...
Read more