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Issue # 56: June 13, 2006
To our readers:
People who love what they do are enthusiastic and animated, and that excites and engages their coworkers and customers. If you can’t get excited about what you do, you won’t get anyone around you excited either.
Remember your teachers in school? Some lectured or read from notes or a manuscript. They rarely looked up at students. Others spoke from the heart and encouraged questions and class participation. The first group was simply doing its job, going through the motions, and was often boring as a result. But the second group was immersed in the process of creating a two-way learning environment, and was inspiring. The difference was enthusiasm.
The word enthusiasm is derived from the Greek word, enthousiasmos, which means to be inspired or possessed by a divine being. Enthusiasm is an incredibly powerful tool to create momentum. Enthusiasm can also be used to combat fear and nervousness and it can even create temporary energy and willpower. Being enthusiastic creates an overall feeling of happiness and well-being.
When you walk into work in the morning, how do you greet your co-workers? Do you strive for a positive early morning greeting? Or are you one of those who claim not to be an “early morning person” and use that as an excuse to be disagreeable? Our morning goal should be to help the people we work with want to be around us for the rest of the day. Our early morning greeting is simply setting the tone for any interaction that is to follow.
So who do you want to be at work? Do you want to be among those who telegraph boredom in their jobs, or those who behave as though they enjoy their work?
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Enthusiasm is like any other skill and is the result of conscious effort. If it is continually practiced and exercised, it gets better. If it is not, it will atrophy. Practicing the ability to use enthusiasm can keep you excited and driven even in horrible circumstances. Without this ability even great circumstances are viewed through the lens of sarcasm and cynicism. So how can you harness your own inner divinity?
Three tips for harnessing enthusiasm:
1. Understand that your body language can create emotions.
Our body language commands a lot more of our internal behaviors than we think. Most of us believe it is our internal emotions that create our body language. Surprisingly, the situation works in reverse as well. Body language itself can create the emotions it represents. Behave enthusiastically and you will feel enthusiasm.
2. Identify enthusiastic body language and practice it!
You can actually create temporary enthusiasm relatively easily. Act more enthusiastic than you feel, and you can literally create the same level of enthusiasm inside. I use this technique whenever I am in a social situation where I need some added confidence or energy.
Begin by thinking about how you act when you are enthusiastic. Smiling, moving around more, and having more expressive body language are usually key characteristics of enthusiasm.
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3. Pursue your passion to the greatest extent possible.
Genuine enthusiasm can only be sustained when you are truly passionate about something. Passion provides the fuel; without it there can be no fire of enthusiasm. Reduce the amount of time you spend pursuing things you’re not passionate about, and increase the time you devote to those things you are passionate about. Ultimately, you are responsible for the amount of passion you experience in your life!
Some Quotes on enthusiasm:
Norman Vincent Peale:
When a person applies enthusiasm to his job, the job will itself become alive with exciting new possibilities.
Dale Carnegie:
People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. Act enthusiastic and you become enthusiastic.
John Wesley:
Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come from miles to watch you burn.
Katharine Hepburn:
Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting.
Please address your reactions and comments to: kirk@kirkmillerandassoc.com
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