Mojo. How to Get It, How to Keep It, and How to Get it Back When you Need it

By Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter

I've read this book before, but I can't find the notes. 

I appreciate reading Goldsmith.Goldsmith focuses on executive coaching. I wish there was a version of this book for people who aren't executives. I can still take much away from it. 

I intentionally reread this book since I am starting a new job. 

Five qualities we need to bring to an activity in order to do it well are...

1. Motivation,

2, knowledge,

3, ability,

4, confidence,

5, authenticity...

Four ingredients to have great Mojo..
1. Identity... who do you think you are?
2. Achievement... what have you done lately?
3. Reputation... who do other people think you are?
4. Acceptance... what can you change? What is beyond your control?

Four Pointless Arguments...

1. Let Me Keep Talking... Talking when you should listen.

2. I've had it rougher than you. People don't change their mind because someone else has had it rougher than they. Kids don't listen when you say "When I was your age I....

3. Why did you do that? You can't judge everyone's actions through the lens of "Am I being respected, or disrespected?" People will do things that annoy or enrage us. It's almost impossible to get to the bottom of why they did them. Don't waste your time trying.

4. It's not fair. 

"These four loosing arguments all have the same end result. We don't change the outcome. We don't help our organizations or our families. We don't help ourselves. We only lower our Mojo."

Change you or it. Don't keep whining about it. Don't be passive aggressive.

Tools for building Mojo...

1. Establish Criteria that matter to you.

2. Find out Where You're Living. 

3. Be the optimist in the room. But realistic, but optimistic. 

4. Take Away one Thing. Simplify. Focus

5. Rebuild One Brick at a Time

6. Live your mission in the small moments too.

7. Swim in the blue water...Find your niche. Don't copy everyone else.

8. Think though when to stay and when to go.

9. Hello, Good bye. Be prepared for abrupt exits.

10. Adopt a metrics system-- measure yourself in real ways. Against targets that affect your criteria. 

11. Measure the bad things. Not just the good. Reduce the bad things.

12. Influence Up as Well as Down.

When Goldsmith coaches someone he asks they...

1. Let go of the past. You cannot change the past. 

2. Tell the truth. Not just what they want to hear. 

3. Be supportive and helpful. Be encouraging, not cynical or sarcastic. 

4. Pick something to improve yourself, so everyone has skin in the game, rather than just judging. 

Peter Drucker's five questions for solving problems...

1. What is your mission? Why does your organization exist in the first place? What are you trying to accomplish for your customers?

2. Who are your customers? Describe the person you wish to satisfy with your actions.
3. What does your customer value? What is it that you do especially well that you are uniquely suited to provide to your customers? How can you exceed the standards set by your competition?4. What results are you trying to accomplish? How do you measure success?5. What is your plan? How do you go about satisfying your customers and getting the results that are most important?

Why We Sleep

By Matthew Walker Phd.

An interesting book, though it has it's limits. We can describe far more about sleep, than we can prescribe ways to improve it. For years, I've gone through bouts where I walk up at 3am and stay awake for an hour or so. I was hoping to find a cure for that. But no.

To the best of our knowledge, to get the best sleep...
1. Stick to a schedule.
2. Exercise, but not late in the day.
3. Avoid caffeine and nicotine
4. Avoid Alcohol before bed.
5. Avoid large meals before bed.
6. Don't take naps after 3pm
7. Relax before bed
8. Take a hot bath before bed.
9. Have a good sleeping environment, cool, low noise, no bright lights
10. Expose yourself to 30 minutes of sunlight a day, morning is best.
11. Don't lay awake in bed.

The Power of Habit: Why we Do What We Do in life and Business...

By Charles Duhigg

Much of this book lines up with "The Tipping Point" There is an important core to this book that I want to remember...

How to change habit loops. We all have many habits. They are of the form...

Stimulus... Habit... Reward...

The Habit could be smoking, could be nail bighting, going to Facebook, getting angry.. any of thousands of things. Most people try to break a habit with self discipline... don't do that! Resist! Duhigg suggests we spend time to understand the stimulus and the reward.

1. Every time we engage in a habit, record the time, what you were doing, and what you were feeling. 

2. Record the rewards of the habit.

3. When you understand what stimulus kick off a habit, develop a specific plan to deal with the stimulus, and figure out a satisfying reward.

For example, I want to go running every morning. Instead, I just get out of bed and make coffee. In this situation, try laying out your running closes the night before and set up the coffee maker. Now, get dressed first thing in the morning, and have coffee as a reward when you get back.

You will have to play around with identifying the stimulus, and finding the appropriate rewards. Sometimes they may be simple... to relieve stress, breath deeply for a few seconds, instead of having a candy bar.  Sometimes they may be complicated... If I habitually put off financial planning because of anxiety, then what? Reward myself with a nice bottle of wine?

I want to combine this with Goldsmith's Triggers. The ideas that we will be more successful if we limit our personal change at any one time to...

1. Creating new behavior.

2. Eliminating an old behavior

3. Accepting something regretful

4. Preserving, or growing something positive.