MOJO…What a great concept (and a new book)

I just finished listening to a free webinar hosted by the Business Chamber (free membership) and featuring Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, the author of Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back if You Lose It
and I wanted to share it with you.

Dr. Goldsmith was down to earth and generously shared an hour of his time with attendees from around the world.

Here are my takeaway highlights:

1. MOJO is defined as “that positive spirit toward what you are doing now that starts from the inside and radiates to the outside”. (For free resources visit www.MOJOthebook.com)

2. The changing nature of our life today (and this is a shared viewpoint worldwide) focuses on globalization, new technology, current economic crisis, work-life balance, and pressure.

3. What matters in life is: Health, Wealth, Relationships, Meaning and Happiness. Marshall’s travels confirm that these are a universal set of values.

4.  Dr. Goldsmith stated that his earlier works (including the best-selling What Got You Here Won’t Get You There) focused on interpersonal relationships with others, while MOJO focuses on your intrapersonal relationship with yourself.

Dekkers’ note: It is interesting hearing Dr. Goldsmith say this because he went on to explain how much of our MOJO seems to hinge on what others tell us about ourselves (in fact three of the four parts of MOJO: Identity, achievement, and reputation, are based on what others say) — that we often lose sight of what makes us US! I’m hoping to read about how to listen more to our internal MOJO “voice” and ignore the external “noise” of our own internal critic and our external environment.

5. Dr. Goldsmith shared two stories illustrating some novel ways of looking at life that I plan to try today:

“Leave it at the stream”

Two Buddhist monks were walking by a stream and came upon a beautifully dressed distressed maiden crying by the shore. When they asked her what was the matter, she confessed that she needed to cross the stream to get to a wedding but she was unable to do so with the silk gown she was wearing. The two monks looked at each other and the one apologized and kept walking, while the other scooped up the woman, waded into the stream and carried her to the other side. When he returned and caught up to his friend, the first monk chastised the second for touching a woman (which was forbidden). The first monk was so perturbed by this violation that he couldn’t sleep that night and woke the second monk to continue the scolding. The second monk responded saying “Yes, it is true that I carried the woman across the creek to the other side and I’m over it. But you, on the other hand carried the woman all the way back to the monastery where she might as well be with us still”. I took the moral of the story to be: Get over our obsession with the past – and leave it where it belongs – at the stream.

“The Empty Boat”

This is a story where a fisherman is out in the middle of a lake when he sees a boat being carried by the wind drifting quickly into his path. When the boat strikes his own, he yells out to the other boat only to find out that it is empty. The moral of the story is that getting upset at someone else for being who they rightfully are is as stupid as getting angry at the empty boat.

—————–

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to reading the book, AND to discovering more about my own MOJO.  Of course, I’ll still be interested in knowing what you think about the whole MOJO concept too!

p.s., Growing up in Canada, we could buy candy called “MoJo’s” that were small wrapped nougat fruit cubes at 2 for 5 cents. We thought we had died and gone to candy heaven when we’d come home with a baggie full of MoJo’s!

Wishing you a happy weekend!

Regards,
Carol

Copyright 2010 Carol Dekkers – All Rights Reserved ———————