Have you lost your spark? Is every day just another monotonous routine? Get up. Go to work. Eat. Go home. Watch TV. Sleep. Wake up, and repeat.

Sound familiar?

If you’re stuck in a rut, you literally cannot be bothered to do anything. Every moment of your life is wasted simply existing. Your mind feels heavy and clouded and there is a constant sinking feeling in your gut.

You’ve lost the passion, the zest, the clarity and you’re not living in the moment. The french call it a certain… I don’t know what.

I call it your mojo. And I’m here to help you get it back.

Time to get shagadelic, baby!

Nobody likes a mojo-less entity. It sucks to be sans mojo and people won’t want to be around a mojo killer. Life without mojo is just plain boring. Maybe that’s why when you’re stuck in a rut you don’t feel like doing a damn thing. You’d rather sit and eat Cheerios than abseil down the side of a cliff face somewhere off the coast of New Zealand. To somebody in a rut, both have the exact same appeal: none!

When you hit the point where you stop washing yourself, cleaning your teeth or taking regular bathroom breaks, it’s definitely time for you to snap the hell out of it. Here is my quick guide to recapturing your elusive mojo.

How to install Mojo 2.0

Get some fresh air!

One of the worst things you can do when you’re mojo-less is to sit festering in your own self pity, eating anything in sight and avoiding the world. Get out there and enjoy what your city, town or village has to offer. If nothing else, the fresh air will do you some good. Get some high quality oxygen into your gills and savour every breathe. This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time. [hat tip to Tyler Durden for that little gem!].

Do something fun.

If you’re going through your daily life like a robot from the planet Chapek 9 then you need to break the cycle before you go mad (or rusty). Forget about your To-Do list and to hell with your blog post that you just can’t finish because it sucks. Do what you love to do for fun. Go for a run, learn to dance, speak Spanish or harass the mean old guy across the street with crank phone calls. Just do something to get you laughing, excited or happy again. Are you feeling the endorphins rushing through your body? Good. Now you just need to learn that you can always feel this way if you live your life doing what you love every day.

Get laid.

Now, if you’ve really hit rock bottom you’ll probably need to take a bath, get a haircut, shave (ladies I recommend only shaving your legs), and generally spruce yourself up first. If you have a partner that hasn’t kicked you out yet, take them out for a meal as a treat. Wine them. Dine them. Take them home and get them in the mood for some loving. Nothing will shake the cobwebs away like a good old fashioned romp! If you’re single, hit the bars. One night stands are lame, so instead just try to meet as many new people as possible. Laugh, joke, flirt and facilitate change in your life. Who knows, you might meet “the one“?

Learn something new.

Nothing keeps the mind in shape like learning something new. It could be dancing, a new language, an instrument, new marketing techniques or any other skill you’ve always wanted to master. If you are thinking about learning something new, then make sure you commit. Do or do not, there is no try. Throwing yourself into learning gives you a new zest for life. I love learning new things and then boring the living daylights out of anybody who will listen to me talk about them. If you want to get your mojo back, start learning, baby!

Meet like minded people.

If you haven’t already, surround yourself with people who care about what you care about and love what you love. My girlfriend hates me being on the laptop reading RSS feeds or typing loudly at 3am when she’s trying to sleep. And don’t even get me started on the Tweetdeck notifications… she despises them! When you become friends with people who share your passions, you begin to understand just how amazing it is to do what you love. Everything falls into place. It can be a lonely world, especially if you’re trying to make it as an entrepreneur. Like minded people will give you drive, motivation, determination, joint ventures and, most importantly, friendship. I connect mostly through email, blog comments and Twitter. I’m not trying to get them to visit this blog or subscribe particularly, I just want to meet people and make friends. I suggest you do the same.

Travel.

Nothing will revive your lust for life like traveling and seeing the world. There is so much beauty in the world and it will give you a new lease of life to see all the amazing wonders this world has to offer. I’ve partied in Malia, got drunker than I’ve ever been before on $10 in Prague, watched the sun set in the Dominican Republic, got lost in Amsterdam (twice), accidentally went into a sex shop in Germany and had my blond hair stroked and admired my locals in a Saudi Arabian souk among many other things. Travel isn’t just for tourist destinations and spending time on the beach, although that can be good too. It’s about experiencing new cultures, new customs, and different people with an entirely different outlook on life. A surf instructor from Australia is going to have a far more relaxed and chilled out life than a New York banker on Wall Street. You can shape yourself into a better person just by being in the company of diverse and intriguing characters. Learn from their life lessons and create a newer, more free, you.

Start a blog.

Sean Ogle has a passionate and moving video that he shot on the beach in Thailand which strongly encourages anybody wanting to do what he has done to start a blog. I agree with him. Writing about things you love and know is therapeutic for the soul. You get clarity from a clear mind and you get that amazing feeling that comes when just one person leaves a comment to say how much your post helped them. Writing also helps you to communicate more effectively. When you’re mojo-less it can feel like nobody understands what you’re trying to say or where you’re coming from. Blogging will help you to articulate your thoughts and be specific about what you want! If you do start a blog, go out of your way to provide amazing value and content for free. That’s what I try to do here. Am I succeeding? Reach out to other bloggers doing what you want to be doing and talk to them. If they don’t reply, keep at it. Persistence is key when it comes to being a successful blogger. Next week I’ll let you know about my February Challenge and it will be one that other bloggers can do with me to boost themselves up the blogosphere hierarchy. Subscribe to the feed if you haven’t already so you don’t miss it.

Pick something and Just Do It™

If you want to relight your fire, then you need to stop wallowing in self pity, doubt and procrastination and just do something. Pick something from the list or choose something yourself. Whatever it is, make sure it is fun, exciting and gets your heart pumping again.

Don’t worry so much about the past or the future and focus on the here and now. Do something you love, for fun, and push everything else from your mind. Relationships, money, work – forget them and just enjoy the moment.

Have you ever lost your mojo? How did you get it back and what did you do to recapture it?