My mojo finding strategies are well and truly tested!

I originally posted my strategies for refinding my mojo back in September 2013. I’ll share the 10 things I do again towards the end of this post but first…

Its been one hell of a year and when sharing my strategies for refinding my mojo I had no idea how much I would need them over the last 12 months. Sometimes life throws us a curve ball and we can either be a victim and think “poor me” or we can see it as a test that will make us stronger.

Normally I’m all about sharing my personal struggles because I think it helps others going through the same but the past year I got caught up in something that isn’t my story to tell. Maybe one day but not right now.

It was tough though and although I believe that there is a message in every mess it was VERY hard to see at times. Now I am through the other end of the mess it is time for me to get serious about my business so I have been thinking about the message that I was given over the last 12 months.

Quite simply it is “Julia you’ve got this!, stop doubting yourself, stop wondering if you are ready, stop wondering if you really add value”

Looking back at the 10 things I do to give myself a reboot and refind my mojo they are the exact things that have kept me sane lately. There have been times when I’ve cried in the shower so nobody knew but those times were not as often and didn’t last as long as when I was suffering from work-related stress. Most importantly I functioned throughout it all. I ran my business and for the most part I was the best version of me, so… if the universe was testing me then I passed :)

We all do it, we all lose our mojo, get stuck, doubt yourself, whatever you want to call it. Sometimes the doubt slows us down and keeps us small but I’ve had enough of slow and small I have BIG plans!

I will be making sure my life and my business is BIGGER, BOLDER & BRIGHTER I will not, however, be getting stressed and running around like a headless chicken, I will be PRESENT, POISED & ON PURPOSE. I might have wobbles when I step outside of my comfort zone, I’m human after all but I’ll be learning and course correcting like nobody’s business!

So here is that original post about how I reboot and refind my mojo…

Did you see my recent Facebook post?

“Ok. It’s time for an MOT (moment of truth):
I’ve lost my mojo and had a very unproductive few days!!
After sitting looking at the sea for the last half an hour and giving myself a good talking too I’m ready to get it back again. It’s time to follow my own advice and dig out my RE-BOOT list. As I also advocate accountability I’ll write a blog and share my RE-BOOT strategy later”

Well, the time has come to post my re-boot (kick up the backside) strategy and be held accountable for doing the things on the list. I call it a reboot because the brain is like a computer. It is soooo powerful and clever yet most of us don’t really understand a lot about how it works.

Also, you may have heard the term GIGO in relation to computers… it means put garbage in and you get garbage out, well our brains are the same. And sometimes just like even the newest, brightest, shiniest super duper computer sometimes they get confused and the only thing that helps is to shut it down and start again.

Sometimes when you are totally overwhelmed or just plain fed up it is time to reboot your brain. Now, of course, you can’t switch it off totally but you can unplug from your “garbage” thoughts and replace them with empowering or calming thoughts, also known as finding your mojo :) When you change your thoughts you change your feelings which change your actions!

Here are the 10 things I do to give myself a reboot…

1. Write a gratitude list
2. Watch motivational videos
3. Listen to uplifting music, audiobooks
4. Exercise
5. Do something that gives me a sense of achievement
6. Be kind to myself
7. Set a time limit on how long I allow myself to wallow in my misery
8. Talk/share / ask for support
9. Meditate / EFT
10. As myself “What else?”

Did I find my Mojo?

It’s a couple of days since I posted on Facebook so have I done the things on my list?

1. Yes, but I want to get into the habit of making gratitude a daily practice again as I stopped doing it over the summer when the kids were off school
2. Yes, TED talks are my favourite motivational videos. There are lots of short clips on YouTube, but I will do a separate blog post linking to my favourites soon
3. Yes, At the moment I’m re-listening to The Secret on audiobook while I’m in the car or ironing etc
4. Exercise, hmmm no I’ve been procrastinating about this but next week I PROMISE I am going to start running again
5. Writing and publishing a blog gives me a sense of achievement. I’m good at starting them but not as so good at finishing them and publishing them so if you re-reading this then its another yes :)
6. I haven’t been especially kind to myself yet but I’ve planned for a relaxing day off next week. I’ve also been planning 2014. Plus I’ve planned out quite a bit of non-negotiable time off that I just need to stick to next year!
7. Yes I decided that yesterday at 6:00 was the end of feeling sorry for myself and the start of getting back into a routine after the summer
8. Yes, partly by sharing on this blog but also by asking for accountability from my mastermind group for the business-related tasks I want to finish this week.
9. I haven’t done any meditation but I’ve found time for a little bit of tapping but I want to make a 10 minute part of my daily practice starting from next week
10. The “what else?” question is on there because often the emotions we are going through are often a signal to us that something is wrong or something needs to change or maybe we are burying our head in the sand about something.

What else?

The what else question might be last on my list but it is often one of the most important things. Unfortunately, it can be one of the difficult questions to answer authentically as we humans are so good (bad?) at burying our head in the sand or not seeing the wood for the trees.

For me, there were 2 main reasons I lost my mojo. Firstly I started to try to do too many things at once rather than focusing on one thing at a time so I am planning out 2014 at the moment and I am going to simplify my business and retire some of my products to really concentrate on just a few.

The other thing that was affecting me was my daughter is leaving home to go to University, the closer it gets the more I dread it. Obviously, there is not much I can do about that but I can concentrate on the positives like how proud I am of her and how happy she is about starting a new chapter of her life and making new friends rather than thinking about how much I’m going to miss her.

So I would say that my mojo is 75% restored. Once I have the move out of the way I can start getting into a routine again of doing the things that are important to keep me on the success without stress path.

What do you do when you are feeling low or overwhelmed? Let me know how you get back on track in the comments below.