Many people experience weeks in their lives when they lose their motivation.  Things don’t seem to be going right in work, at home or perhaps in the gym and we start to question our motivation for doing something.  As the new year dawns, most people renew their resolutions and try to make changes to their lives.  In that time, people talk about getting their mojo back, but what does mojo really mean and how can you keep it?  Read on to find out.

The Elusive MOJO

 

You lose it and you feel like you don’t achieve your goals.  You have it and things start to go well again.  Yet, you don’t just have your mojo, you find it.  It is mysterious, disappearing without apparent reason and reappearing out of nowhere days or weeks later.

The word has it’s origins in African American culture as reference to a charm which perhaps explains why people are so keen to find their mojo.  Although mojo is now used to describe something abstract, it retains its original reference to an obHhject.  We still see it as a physical thing.

The Fitness MOJO

A quick search on Google shows up a number of gyms which have mojo somewhere in their name.  Mainly in America, gyms are keen to put their emphasis into motivating their members.  Although not as common in the UK, motivational quotes adorn the walls of Xercise4Less where I train most of the time.  When I’m pedaling away on the static bike, they remind me why I am there and urge me to keep going.

The Independent reported a 40% spike in gym membership in January as people banish their Christmas blues.  However, that spike appears as a sharp rise and fall as people revert to old habits soon after.  The truth is that it is hard to stay motivated after the initial spike in interest which results from the over-indulgence of Christmas.  Yet signing up for a gym which you are only going to visit for a month or two is expensive.

Harnessing your Motivation

To sustain success you need to have a goal in mind.  I always train better when I have a race to aim for or a specific target in mind.  Setting targets with the SMART target framework helps structure goals making them easy to follow.  Staying motivated over a prolonged period of time is hard.  As a result, I prefer to set smaller intermediate targets to ensure that I stay focused.  This year I haven’t done very well with target setting and as a result, know that I need to up my game in the year to come.

My big target for the year to come is to better my half marathon time which I set in Blackpool in 2014.  In the lead up to the Rochdale Half Marathon in October I know that I will run at least two more races including the third Bury 10k in October.  I need to have races in the diary otherwise I know that I won’t make it out of the door.

For you, the perfect goal may be increasing the amount you can deadlift by 20% over a specific period of time.  Setting incremental goals of 5% and giving yourself a deadline to reach it by will keep you focused over time and make the goal seem more achievable.

Find out how you can keep your mojo and you will achieve so much more.  Ahead of 2018, why not give it a try!