Business author Marshall Goldsmith is working on a new book called Mojo about the one attribute that he believes all successful people share: a “positive spirit toward what we are doing now that starts on the inside and radiates to the outside.” This is familiar territory for the eternally chipper executive coach, a Buddhist who teaches execs how to stop being jerks and signs his emails “Life is good.” But the research he’s gathering for the book may reveal an unexpected truth about the way successful people – those with “mojo” — spend their time. In a survey about short-term satisfaction and long-term benefit, Goldsmith asks respondents how much time they spend doing activities that are either:
- Stimulating: high in short-term satisfaction, low in long-term benefit (gossiping, watching TV);
- Sacrificing: low in short-term satisfaction, high in long-term benefit (working out when you don’t feel like it or writing a tedious report that will help your career);
- Surviving: low on both short-term satisfaction and long-term benefit (he offers Charles Dickens characters as an example);
- Sustaining: moderate in both short-term satisfaction and long-term benefits (answering email, shopping, cooking); or
- Succeeding: high on both short-term satisfaction and long-term benefit
It’s easy to assume that writing a tedious report will get your further in life than watching funny videos on YouTube. But is prioritizing long-term benefit always the best choice? Goldsmith might not say so. In an article for Business Week, he writes about the mojo of good flight attendants. In my experience, the best ones spend time chatting with passengers, joking around, and sometimes even in-flight rapping — activities I associate more with short-term fun than long-term benefit. Perhaps one key ingredient of good mojo is using those lightweight “stimulating” activities to get through the day with your sanity intact.
We’ll have to wait until the book comes out to find out if this is indeed Goldsmith’s point. In the meantime, take the survey and tell us: Which category of activity do you think brings you the most mojo?
Image courtesy the Marshall Goldsmith Library
