I’d like to start this blog with a very simple truth; enthusiasm is power. Especially important in an era of leadership and the paradox of employee engagement, enthusiasm matters big time! We study what we do to engage our team members, we measure their “engagement” (read – enthusiasm for their work) and are often left scratching our heads.
I’d like you to step back for a moment then and just reflect upon this statement – enthusiasm is power. It applies across all traditional achievement metrics that might be applied to work as we know it. It was while writing my most recent book that I discovered both the power of one’s enthusiasm – as well as our own capacity to actually generate and direct that enthusiasm.
What first woke me up to the idea was one writer’s blog that described just how much her creativity and productivity rose while writing sections she was excited about (read – enthused about), and how it also dropped like a rock while she was working on the sections she deemed more mundane and less interesting. The revelation I received in considering her thoughts were – that we can generate enthusiasm … at will! We can bring it to the task – with purpose, and on purpose. When writing my most recent book (Simple Truths in Music and Life) I discovered that when I listened to my Kruger Brothers station on Pandora before I sat down to write, my productivity (literally – the number of words I wrote per hour) and the quality of my words (based on my own post-assessment of them) went up dramatically. I now bring this to all of my work intentionally now, I amp up my own enthusiasm prior to starting. I’m aware of it, too. I know I’m doing it when I do it – and it still works! The quality and quantity of my output accelerates in direct correlation to my enthusiasm. It aint magic, but if it is, it’s because I made it so!
I’m presenting this simple truth because I want you to consider and remember that you control that capacity to increase your own output. It doesn’t reside within the activity – you bring it to the activity. Enthusiasm is power. Don’t be caught without it!
Let’s do something different – we can’t help but get better:
- Experiment – discover through trail and error what gets you enthused to produce … it can be totally unrelated to the task itself. Is it exercise or movement, a short interaction with a colleague, or just some music in your ear buds? Find it!
- Spread the love – send this blog to one of your team members. Ask them to discover their own path to enthusiasm … it lies within them, not you.
Help another understand what comes natural to them, and then share what you learned about yourself. Life isn’t always easy, but consider going for natural every time.
-Don Brown
don@donbrown.org
Don Brown dedicates his career to ‘helping people with people’ in leadership, sales and customer service. Bilingual and experienced at the executive and line-level alike, you see the results of his work across dozens of industries, including brewing, automotive, airline, banking and medical equipment.
Speaking, writing, coaching and selling to the best – Ford Motor Company, Anheuser-Busch, United Airlines, Harley-Davidson, Jaguar Cars, Hilton Hotels and many, many more – Don takes great pride in long-standing customer relationships (some running well over twenty years).
