How do you get motivated ? And how can you combine your motivations and interests with your career? We sit down with author, speaker, and entrepreneur Joe Apfelbaum, CEO of Ajax Union to discuss the intersection between career and interests-how to combine the two to best motivate you to work your job and to work your job and to enjoy it too!
Quick Rundown:
8:20: Everyone feared this standoffish CEO, but this guy was Joe's buddy. How?
16:2o: Feel like a leaf in the brook, always going with the flow? Here's how to find purpose/mojo:
21:10: "It's not what you say, but how you say it" also applies to finding motivation for your career.
23:20: The story of a waiter who loved to dance-and how that made waiting on tables a highly enjoyable experience.
30:45: Fear of showing who you really are to the outside world-how to overcome that?
35:15: There will be haters, but don't resist them!
50:35: The biggest risk is not looking stupid, but living a mediocre life.
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Find Your Mojo:
It's important to find your passion, or your mojo. Knowing what you want and what you like will will come to influence how you live your life, your career, and your relationships. When you're comfortable with your mojovation, people will see what you stand for.
But how do you go about finding your passion? Perhaps you already know what you enjoy. In that case-great! Move onto the next section!
But maybe you're naturally a reactive person, kind of a leaf in the brook. But eventually you'll come across something that gets a rise out of you. Everyone does. Something that gets you passionate and worked up.
Don't let that moment pass by, Joe recommends. Take the time to put your finger on that moment and reflect why that moment energizes you. For some people, that could be their children, or even turtles.
Not What, But How.
Those of us familiar with likability and interpersonal skills are likelyfamiliar with the following quote:
"It's not what you say, but how you say it."
Your tone, intent, and how else you portray your words can mean more to your relationship than the actual content of the words. Joe recommends that we take this familiar quote and apply it to our careers:
"It's not what job you do, but how you do your job."
And this "how to do your job" is tied to your motivation and interests. You already know about finding your mojo, your motivation, or as Joe likes to call it, your mojovation! Ideally, you would want a career directly in your mojovation.
But what if your mojovation and what you do for a career simply don't mesh? That's what you may think upon first blush. Remember, it's not about what you do, but how you do it. Joe encourages that there is a way to integrate your mojo into your career, integrating things you care about into your job, and he illustrates this with the story of a dancing waiter...
The Dancing Waiter Story
Joe recounts the story of a waiter with whom he discussed career and mojo. It turned out that the waiter was a big dancer, but felt stuck in his current profession waiting tables. Should the man quit waiting on tables to pursue his passion of being a dancer?
Remember again that it's not what you do, but how you do it. You could wait tables like a waiter, just like every other waiter does, or you could wait tables like a dancer.
Here then our waiter friend found an intersection between his career and his mojo. How could he incorporate dance into his job? Perhaps he could dance in-between tables in order to earn a higher tip from his patrons? And perhaps this dancing in-between waiting is something he could offer to other waiters in order to earn higher tips from customers.
It's not what you do, but how you do it.
How To Deal With Haters
So you've embraced your motivation, and you look at intertwining your career with your interests. But maybe you have some fears that some people may not appreciate you being who you truly are. Certainly a valid concern.
You will have people who don't like what you bring to the table. You will have people who don't even care what you bring to the table. An example in public speaking.
If you give speeches and talks, you'll have people cheering and applauding your talk at the end, but there will always be one person who doesn't necessarily like what you do. One guy may heckle you, or one guy may end up falling asleep in the middle of your time on the stage. Not encouraging!
The funny thing is that instead thinking about the 95 out 100 or so people who enjoy your work, you'll worry about the fewer than five people who fell asleep or scowled at your work. Isn't it funny that our minds focus on the few failures, rather than the multitudes of successes?
Don't worry about the haters. When you put yourself and your mojovation on display for the world to see, you'll find that you'll find people who don't like what you're all about. You'll also find people who really appreciate you for what you stand for. These are the people with whom you'll form your strongest relationships, business and social.
Keep in mind that if and when you find success in embracing your motivation, the tenor of your critics will also change:
“When you’re doing it, everyone is going to ask you why you’re doing it. When you accomplish it, they’ll ask you how you did it.”
Joe recommends finding the one person who will accept you for who you are, someone with whom you don't have to act with filters or restrictions. Then, one by one, you find people who are receptive to your message. These are people who know what you like; they know your mojo, and they don't just like you-they love you for it!
Thanks to Joe for coming onto the show! You can find Joe on various social media sites:
Facebook, and find MojoNation on Facebook at MojoNation
Joe features ambitious CEOs on ceomojo.com and interviews them about their motivations and the success they've found in embracing their interests and their careers together.
Questions and comments can be directed via email to [email protected]
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