Mo·jo (noun): a power that may seem magical and that allows someone to be very effective, successful, etc. — Merriam Webster

When you’re getting comfortable with motivational interviewing, you might be looking to develop your unique motivational interviewing style. The spirit of MI is summed up by the acronym ACCE: Acceptance, Compassion, Collaboration, and Empathy. Think about these strategies to increase your MI spirit.

Vision - Having a vision will pull you through.

What it looks like: Vision is the picture created from the magic wand, or what your client says his life will look like when he gets to the other side of the mountain. Listen to the picture the client is painting. You will hand it back to him when he begins to doubt that he can get where he desires to go.

What you can offer your client: What vision keeps him moving forward? How will he keep the picture of his arrival in view when situational boulders block his trail?

Hope - If your client has no hope, he has no path to walk.

What it looks like: When your client can embrace the possibility of a future worth having, he can begin the task of laying down cobblestones for the path he will walk to get there.

What you can explore with your client: What will she need in order to keep her commitments when the trail over the mountain is winding and the end is not yet in sight?

Laughter - Laughter really is the best medicine.

What it looks like: If you have invested in the relationship with your client and he knows that you have his best interest in mind, you can use humor to explore both sides of the ambivalence. A little teasing is one way friends let you know that you can change, even though they love you the way you are.

What you can offer your client: What are the differences between what he says he wants and what he is doing now? Isn’t it a little silly that he is talking about going left while walking to the right or stepping on the gas and the brake at the same time?

Relationships - Social norms are determined by who a client spends time with.

What it looks like: A group of college students has no classes on Friday, so they party Thursday, Friday and Saturday with large amounts of alcohol. Then on Sunday night they take prescription stimulants to study for finals. This is the peer group’s established norm, so nobody sees it as unusual. When you give someone in this peer group feedback, make it about their norm versus other people’s norm. Keep your own thoughts about the client’s behavior out of the picture.

What you can offer your client: Who might have other perspectives on this behavior? What does the research say about this possible norm, and whether it is typical or unusual?

Belief - Belief is only verbalized when “you” is embraced by “I”.

What it looks like: Your client is embraced by a giant hug when you verbalize “I believe you can do it.” Transformation occurs when the client receives your offering and says “I can do it” in his own words.

What you can offer your client: Ask open ended questions about the client’s language choice, or make an observation, I noticed you are using the word you in your reflections, tell me more about what you mean when you say you?

Excellence - Mediocrity is staying in the status quo. Excellence is stepping outside it.

What it looks like: Your client prefers to be “comfortably uncomfortable,” versus feeling truly uncomfortable exploring new choices.

What you can offer your client: Assist your client in choosing to explore new territory, share your observation of both sides of the ambivalence. Help the client to see what’s not working currently, and hold that up together with what is working.

Ambivalence - Ambivalence is a positive tension. It is the heart of the process of change.

What it looks like: Everyone is ambivalent, all the time – including you. While you read these suggestions to increase your MI Mojo, you are wondering about several other unfinished tasks you have. You begin to question whether you should quit reading here or commit to equipping yourself with new MI tools.

What you can offer your client: Explore both sides of the ambivalence by reflecting the value or desire expressed and how they appear to be expressing from a contrary perspective.

Stillness - It is from the place of internal stillness that your client will arrive at what he values.

What it looks like: Stillness is a place of “be, do, and have” within yourself. The opposite perspective of “do, have, be” will keep your client in perpetual movement seeking an end result that he may always be too busy to see. Transformation is not about finding solutions; it is about noticing solutions we already have.

What you can offer your client:What you can offer your client is silence. Wait until he starts to explore what is going on within himself. Transformation emerges; it can’t be imposed.