Get your mojo working

Do you know what a mojo is? I didn’t, until yesterday. In its original meaning, in the African-American folk belief called hoodoo, a mojo’s a small bag worn under the clothes, often made of red flannel and tied with a drawstring, and containing animal, vegetable and/or mineral products thought to have supernatural powers, e.g. protecting from evil, bringing good luck [1, 2]. This is the meaning of mojo in the 1956 song [3, 4] immortalised by McKinley Morganfield, a.k.a. Muddy Waters (pictured) [5]

Latterly the meaning of mojo’s extended to include libido, charm, charisma, karma, talent, self-confidence, energy, cool, magical uniqueness; and cocaine [6].

All this introduces a piece titled ‘How to Get Your Mojo Back’, by the Get-It-Done Guy [7]. Quoting author Marshall Goldsmith, he defines mojo as ‘the combination of happiness and meaning that excites and motivates you’. He separates personal and professional mojo – which I think’s wrong because the former’s all-encompassing. And his suggested approach seems overmechanical. But I fully agree with his premise: that if your mojo’s vanished or lost, you need to get it back. In other words, ‘…when you find exactly which activities are driving your mojo down, fix them, eliminate them, or delegate them to regain your mojo’. So get your mojo working, folks.