Enthusiasm and Success

“Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas." -Henry Ford

When I chose to become the president of the Wyandotte Jaycees several years ago, I knew I had a challenging year ahead. There were many things I wanted to do and I needed a good group of people to help me accomplish them. In fact, looking for four motivated and dedicated officers to help me out was my first task. As if by instinct, I hit upon the primary characteristic I needed from these future officers: enthusiasm! This is the first tip this month: enthusiasm is one of the most powerful forces on earth for getting things done.

My instinct proved correct and I had a wonderful, if somewhat tumultuous, year as leader of the Wyandotte Jaycees. I definitely proved what I had suspected: enthusiasm is one of the most unbeatable traits for success. So how is your level of enthusiasm for the important things in your life right now? If you suspect it may be a little low, don’t fret. Success tip number two this month is: there are ways you can build your enthusiasm for anything.

Yep, you heard right; I believe you can generate that uplifting sense of purpose and spirit for any project. Now you may be wondering how to do this. Fortunately, I have a few ideas. (Otherwise, this would be an awfully short article.) The first is so simple you’ll think I’m crazy. Success tip number three is: to generate enthusiasm, take action.

It’s that simple! Whatever it is that you don’t feel too excited about doing, start doing it. Have you ever noticed that once you begin a task it isn’t so bad? That’s because your interest and enthusiasm picked up once you started. In fact, before too long you were probably motoring right along, getting into the task without a thought for your previous misgivings about starting the project.

If you’ve ever taken up regular exercise, you have probably discovered this. You usually would rather not start, but once you do, you often run an extra quarter mile or do an extra few crunches, pull-ups or push-ups. Just for good measure…and because you’ve built your enthusiasm a bit by starting.

There’s something else you can do to build your enthusiasm for a project. Research the notion, idea or project for which you have no interest. As you increase your knowledge, if you remain open minded, you can’t help but become more interested. As your interest grows, guess what? You follow success tip number four and generate enthusiasm by learning!

I remember taking a class in Sociology as a college student. It was not a class in my engineering major and my fellow engineering students thought such classes were a waste of time. So did I...at first. Then I found out more about how people in societies react and behave. The next thing I knew, I was explaining the theories and methods of sociology to my fellow engineering classmates. A little education will do that to you.

Of course, it helped that the instructor was very into his subject. This takes us to the foot of another success tip. Tip number five: enthusiasm spreads like wildfire. Just as the excitement of the instructor inspired me to get excited about Sociology, so can your enthusiasm for something inspire others.

If you take nothing else away from this article, latch on to this truly powerful concept. One firebrand in an organization, workplace or even a social group will eventually convince other people that whatever the group is trying to accomplish is worthwhile. This will improve everyone’s outlook and motivate them to create a much better outcome.

I enjoy designing, building and working haunted houses. This is where I’ve seen the most startling proof of this idea: Randy. Randy had an idea for an asylum-themed haunted house that he could not stop talking about. He started months before the project was scheduled to begin. He was going to create the best haunted house that had ever happened within his organization.

When it finally came time to start building The Asylum, however, he lost the support of a large part of the sponsoring organization. It wasn’t his fault, but it happened. He also lost some of his funding when there was a disagreement outside of the haunted house project and he couldn’t afford some of the decorations he wanted. Again, it was outside his control, but it happened. Did this deter Randy? No way!

He went ahead and started recruiting teenagers in the neighborhood where the building stood. What they couldn’t do with props and wood, they did with paint and cardboard. He kept everyone’s enthusiasm high by remaining optimistic about his plan and worked with each person as often as possible. When problems came up, he dealt with them as if they were no big deal. He ran nightly awards sessions for the best workers and ideas. To this day, everyone involved with that organization will agree that The Asylum was the best haunted house they had ever seen in recent memory. Randy did it without much organizational support and without a lot of funding! All because he kept his enthusiasm high and allowed it to permeate the group.

Hopefully I’ve given you some insight into the power of enthusiasm. When you harness this excitement, it will see you through difficult periods and make something ordinary into something extraordinary. Follow success tip number six and harness the natural power of enthusiasm.

Have a great month!