Are you feeling tired, uninspired, and overwhelmed at work? You might be overworked,
burned out, or fed up with this seemingly never-ending pandemic. Or, in the case of three new
clients who reached out to me this month, you may have lost your mojo, your unique power
that ensures your success.
How do you lose your mojo? There can be many reasons, both professional and personal. The
mojo dwindling for my clients was precipitated by a change in job responsibilities. Each had
earned a significant promotion to a job of immense responsibility and visibility. Unfortunately,
all three leaders now had to do more of the work they didn’t enjoy and much less of the work
that gave them energy. One new Sales Vice-President loved her sales role and enjoyed being
the voice of the company at outside events. Her promotion brought a huge increase in
operational tasks and a dramatic reduction in interpersonal exchanges. She found this change
so intolerable she was considering a move to another company.
What can make these work shifts particularly onerous is when there is no end in sight. Most
leaders are willing to take on new responsibilities outside their scope if that means a short-term
assignment. But if they now have two jobs, or if their once enjoyable work has transformed
into misery, their enthusiasm for their work declines and this affects their productivity, their
relationships, their success, and even their home life. They feel stuck and can’t see the way
out.
How to Get Your Mojo Back and Thrive
If you want to recover your mojo, here are steps you can take.
The first step is to be kind to yourself and practice self-care. Those who have lost their mojo
often feel physically and mentally depleted.
The second step is to take a close look at how you are spending your time and energy. Make a
chart with several columns and answer the following questions.
- What are your major job responsibility categories? E.g., operations, sales, people
development, revenue strategy, business development, etc. - What percentage of your time do you typically spend on each category each week?
- Note how you feel about each responsibility. One of my clients chose the following
adjectives: Enjoy, Like, Tolerate, Dislike, or Hate. - Put an asterisk next to the job responsibility you could do all day.
Now assess what you said about yourself in the chart. People who have lost their mojo often
see a tremendous imbalance between the work that they love and the work they have to do.
After you review your chart, consider how you can readjust your work load and work
responsibilities to increase your happiness and satisfaction with your job. Your first reaction
might be “There’s no way I can make any changes. That’s impossible.” If that was your
response, I would encourage you to just answer these questions as a theoretical exercise and
see where the answers take you.
- What work would you love to do more of? How can you do that? What small first step
can you take? How would you and your company benefit? - What work do you absolutely have to keep on your plate? Can you delegate part of that
work to others? Those who have lost their mojo are often overloaded with work and
need more help. Others need colleagues with a specific expertise. - What work can you easily give to someone else? Who might even like that assignment?
- For the job responsibilities you dislike but need to keep, how can you manage those
differently? E.g., can you do that work for a specific amount of time at a certain time of
day so it is manageable? Would it help to have a colleague to work with on those
projects with you?
Finally, plan how you can increase the parts of your job that you love. Even small changes will
make a difference. A published author, one of my clients had given up all her public speaking
engagements due to her new role. To get her mojo back, she let it be known that she was open
to speaking opportunities, even to small audiences. Another client began looking for a COO
who could take over the daily operations of the company while he focused on all external
activities.
Losing one’s mojo can occur gradually but when the tank is empty, it is empty.
Taking the time to examine what has changed in your job and what you need to shift will have a
big payoff in happiness, job satisfaction, and career success.