We’ve all been there. You’ve been doing something for a few years, or even a few decades and the spark is gone.
You’re doing all the same things you’ve always done but the groove you once enjoyed has become a lifeless rut. You’ve lost your mojo and you’re just going through the motions.
If that sounds like you, help is at hand. Award-winning Aussie strategist Michael McQueen, author of Momentum: How to Build it, Keep it, or Get it Back, shares 5 keys to restoring energy, vitality and momentum for any individual or business:
1. Get back to your why
Most businesses and individuals start off with an inspiring vision for the future. Over time as things settle into a routine, the inspiring ‘big picture’ gets crowded out and lethargy, despondency and numbing monotony become the default.
Naturally, there are always going to be days and seasons where we feel a bit dry and uninspired. However, when this becomes the norm, watch out. Purposeless productivity is soul destroying. Emotionless motion is exhausting.
So what are you working towards that is so exciting it takes your breath away and makes your heart beat just a little bit faster? Is it time to re-focus on that vision?
2. Develop a game plan
While a vision is the fuel, a game plan is the engine required to convert that fuel into movement and progress. All the dream-board construction and navel-gazing in the world is worth little without an action plan for turning your vision into a reality.
So what is your game plan for getting off go and moving towards your exciting vision? What do you need to change in the next 24 hours in order to get traction? As Mark Twain said, the secret to getting started is breaking your overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks then starting with the first one.
3. Prune ruthlessly
Any gardener knows that pruning is critical to maintaining and restoring health to a plant or garden. It is the same for organisations and for us as individuals too.
Pruning dead wood is pretty easy because it is obvious. However, the skill of a true gardener is to have the courage and discernment to prune what is still living in the best interests of the whole plant.
Although it goes against conventional thinking, sometimes it is actually necessary for organisations and individuals to prune things that are actually working fine but reflect where you have been in the past and will hold you back from where you are heading in the future.
4. Go back to basics
When any individual or organisation gets stuck and growth stalls, invariably it is because they’ve stopped doing the very basics they used to do – many of the things that were part of the magic formula that created their success in the first place.
So, what have you stopped doing in recent months or years? Is it time to go back to basics and revive some of those habits, practices and commitments that have unconsciously fallen by the wayside?
5. Do something daring
The final way to jumpstart energy and vitality is to do something that’s out of the box. It may be a trying something new or nerve racking. It may be setting an ambitious or audacious goal that will force people to stretch. Regardless, do something that takes you out of your comfort zone.
Remember, it’s easier to give birth than raise the dead. Do something daring, exciting and new rather than simply trying to give CPR to people and processes that reflect the status quo.
So how is your current momentum? To test it today, visit www.MeasureMyMojo.com and then consider which of the above 5 keys will help you build, maintain or get momentum back in the weeks and months ahead.
About the author:
Michael McQueen is a 4-time bestselling author and multi award-winning business strategist. He has worked with many of the world’s best-known brands and is a regular commentator on TV and radio. His most recent book Momentum: How to Build it, Keep it, or Get it Back, is a must-read guide to achieving breakthrough growth, unstoppable vitality and sustained success. It is available in all good bookstores and online at www.MichaelMcQueen.net
This story was originally published on The Carousel.
