Nearly
everybody has experienced one or more Mojo Drops over the course of their
career.
A Mojo Drop is a time when you lose your self-confidence and
self-esteem.
Your mojo is your belief in yourself -- your life force. You need
your mojo. It is your fuel source. It powers everything you do.
Even when your mojo fuel tank seems to be full to the brim, you
can lose most or all of your mojo in a flash.
You might experience a Mojo Drop because your job disappears, or
because you work for a manager who berates and criticizes you so much that you
end up doubting your abilities.
You might experience a Mojo Drop when you hit a 'milestone'
birthday and realize that you aren't happy with your career.
A Mojo Drop is a very hard experience to undergo. Almost everyone
has been through it, and no one wants to repeat the experience any time soon!
The problem with a Mojo Drop is that people who have lost their
mojo don't tend to think "I'm fine -- I've just lost my mojo
temporarily."
They think just the opposite: "I'm a loser! When I felt
successful before, that was just delusion. Actually I'm not smart or capable at
all!"
Many job-seekers and working people know that their loss of self-esteem
isn't necessarily rational or justified, but that knowledge doesn't help very
much. If you feel an emotion, it is real for you!
Knowing that your feelings don't make rational sense is not
enough. You still feel them.
During a Mojo Drop most people feel tired, discouraged and
self-critical.
How can you achieve your goals and have a happy life when your
mojo is completely gone? How can you job-hunt when your fuel tank is empty?
You can't. You need to refill your mojo fuel tank, one day at a
time. Here are ten ways to do it.
If these activities don't sound like business activities or
worthwhile ways to spend your time when you're "supposed to" be
job-hunting, give yourself a break!
Your fuel tank is your only power source.
Ten Ways
To Repair Your Battered Self-Esteem
1. Get
outside.
Take a walk whenever you can, or get on your bike. Nature is a great
influence when you feel down or critical of yourself. In nature we remember
that the universe is not against us. Life is all about stages and changes.
Reinvention is the process of moving from one stage of life to another stage.
It's hard, but when you step into your new persona things will get much better!
2. Get
physical.
Lift weights or dance to your favorite songs. Get out of your busy
brain and celebrate being alive by moving your body. Whatever you have done in
your life so far or haven't done, you are still alive -- you can always change
your situation!
3. Get
creative.
Pull out your paints and brushes or get into the garden and design a
flower bed. Draw or write or play your viola. Your creative brain is very
important when you're in reinvention. It has messages for you. You will feel
better when you allow yourself to re-connect with your creative, non-linear
side.
4. Get
together with supportive people.
You know which friends, colleagues and family
members make you feel light and happy. These are the people to hang around with
now!
5. Talk back
to your critical voice.
Job-seekers and people in reinvention may have a
nagging, critical voice inside their heads constantly telling them how
useless they are. Your critical voice might say "Why did you get laid off?
Not everyone in the department got laid off. You must not have been a very good
employee!" You can talk back to that critical voice -- either silently, or
aloud if there's no one around. Say "Thanks for your opinion but I can
already tell it's a good thing I got laid off. It's painful now to be
job-hunting, but my next job is going to be better than the last one.
Unemployed as I am, my standards are higher now!"
6. Only
job-hunt for a few hours every day.
Don't sit in front of your computer all day
filling out job applications. That is the least effective way to get a job. Go
out and have coffee with people you've known for years and new people you've
just met. Sharing ideas and reinforcing one another is far better for your mojo
fuel tank and your job search than plodding through endless application forms.
7.
Write down your Dragon-Slaying Stories.
You have powerful
stories from your work and other areas of your life that will remind you how
smart, capable and conscientious you are -- but only if you recall and reclaim
them! Get a notepad and start writing them down. Write about the times you
saved the day or felt powerful and made a positive difference. When our mojo
disappears and our self-esteem is shot, we tend to forget our Dragon-Slaying Stories. You can do just
the opposite, and make a list of them!
8. Clean out
your space and your mind.
If you were working and then lost your job, you were
probably too busy to organize your closets. Do it now! Go through your house or
apartment and get rid of clothes you no longer wear, furniture you're sick of
and anything that doesn't support who you are now -- and who you are becoming!
9. Visualize
your next adventure.
You are not desperate, even if you feel desperate. Sit in
a quiet place and visualize your next adventure. Create a vision in your mind.
That vision will help your mojo to return -- after all, who can get excited
about their future when they have no vision to work toward?
10. Finally,
remind yourself how amazing you are.
In your head or out loud, tell yourself
"This transition is hard, but I'm going to come through it stronger than I
was before. I know I'm smart and capable. The more strongly I feel it, the more
other people will feel it, too!"
Source: Forbes
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