Let’s face it: many of us are getting beat down in the midst of the Great Recession. Whether we’ve been laid off once — or twice — or just have to continue working in jobs we don’t like, those events naturally get us off our game. There is that tipping point where we think everything will be fine and then it tips to wondering if we can ever do good stuff again.

We lose our mojo. We all do.

Now, Pamela Slim of Escape from Cubicle Nation knows we lose our mojo, but she also knows a bit on how to get it back:

When you are at the top of your game in any aspect of your life – relationship, career, business, finance, health, fitness – you don’t think you will ever come down.

But you do.

You get laid off. Hit a really rough spot in the economy and stumble in your business. Lose your marriage. Gain two pant sizes from stress and overwork. Get writer’s block. Lose a mentor. Get your heart broken.

And when you get through the rough patch and try to get back on your horse, if you stay focused on how great things used to be, you will give up before you even start.

Remember what you felt, not what you did.

I am guilty of this trap of remembering what I did compared to what I felt. Happens all the time. We attribute it to “getting older” and not wiser; we see the relentless work for corporations beating out the “outstanding” in all of us. And, if you are looking for a job — working or not — it is easy to put what you used to do on a pedestal and fear you will never get it back.

That’s when your mojo goes. You start wandering in the wilderness and just start going along to get along and you start to lose your soul. You question your ability and motivation to do the work that needs doing for the best in you. You stop fighting for you and, well, you just stop.

This happens to the best of us, Cubicle Warriors or not. This past September, Kate, my wife, and I took three days away from the house and had some long discussions about what it is we wanted to do in our lives. Part of that was work. Part of that was relationships. But all of it was trying to define what kind of life we wanted to lead — because that life was when we felt best about ourselves.

It is easy to avoid defining the life you want right now. There are a lot of excuses that support the thinking that it doesn’t make any difference anyway and you abdicate controlling what you can about your life. It is even tougher to start working and executing a plan to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

But you can start by remembering what you felt when you were at your best in all the different roles you have in your life — your work, life as a parent, partner and family — then see where you are compared to your best and start working on getting there.

Without defining what you felt like doing your best, you won’t make the right choices to start getting you there. Instead, you’ll make expedient choices and kick the can down the road because it is easier to do. And you’ll lose a little more mojo along the way and wonder what ever happened to your life.

When some surveys talk about 60% of us planning on leaving our current job when the recession is “over,” I’d suggest that, instead of waiting, you start defining what you do when you feel your best. Then go out and start working it now.

It’s what Cubicle Warriors do to get their mojo back.

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