THE POWER OF ENTHUSIASM
Image i-D Magazine, Photography: Frank Ocean
In our study of personal power, confidence, and projecting the future we want, we’ve got a talk by Jim Rohn, on repeat: The 10 Powers to Be Great. So far, we’ve covered the steps to identify our higher purpose and how to cultivate self-confidence. This week, we explore the potency of enthusiasm and why it’s a necessary ingredient to making big things happen in our lives.
Transformational enthusiasm is not always flashy, the way a rousing motivational speech might be. “Loud enthusiasm” as Jim puts it, is not necessarily going to enact the big personal change and influence we want.
Instead, he says enthusiasm is 90% below the surface, something that comes from deep inside, which takes it back to his first statement on identifying our purpose. When we know WHAT we WANT and WHY we WANT it, not what we think we should want and playing life safe, that's when life really becomes juicy.
That's the percolating excitement that gets us up in the morning, helps us feel motivated by the why we’re doing what we’re doing, and allows us to operate from a place of genuine giddiness in what we’re creating.
And here's the thing—people feel that level of enthusiasm, it’s palpable. And especially magnetic, the kind of enthusiasm that makes people want to invest in what you’re doing or have whatever you’re having. They’ll crave a slice of whatever you’ve got because you’re emanating an authentic air of excitement about what it is you're up to.
Jim says, “The 10% that’s heard, that is the enthusiasm that rings a bell, people call it genuine enthusiasm because they know what you say in the outward display of enthusiasm is only the tip of the iceberg of the enthusiasm that feels inside to do the best you can.”
The habit of enthusiasm also helps us lean out of the scarcity/lack mindset. Life feels plentiful when we feel hopeful, excited, and inspired by what we’re creating and where we're going.
Imagine if you were to launch a new business offering. Old thought patterns or conventional marketing wisdom might try to take control of the situation by saying: How are you going to drum up enough business? How is anyone going to know or care about the product? How are enough people going to sign up and buy and believe in you? Instead of obsessing over numbers and quotas, or focusing on being unseen or worthy or convincing enough, reframe focus toward why you’re excited internally, which will ultimately be what translates externally. Enthusiasm can become a powerful antidote for self-doubt, as it helps us return to the original seed of why we wanted to start in the first place and what we want to create in the world. And that why is the gasoline for positive momentum and a trajectory to where we want to go.
In this newsletter, there’s an exercise that helps us to retrace our steps toward enthusiasm, to help us feel excited. Because even if the activity that cultivates excitement for us feels circuitous to what we think our bigger purpose is, feeling enthusiastic about anything builds sacral, creative energy. This energy is what can eventually be channeled into whichever direction we choose, if we direct it with intention.
Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it?
You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit.
—GORDON PARKS
Image: Yunus Emre Uzun
EXERCISE:
LIGHT YOURSELF UP
When we get lost in something that brings us joy—whether it be dancing, walking, painting, knitting, learning a language, going down a research rabbit hole, tracking down an obscure image on Tumblr (oh, just us?)—the way we lose track of time and just get lit up is powerful. That’s what enthusiasm is—a living in anticipation, of getting psyched about the possibility of it all, getting lost in time because we're so caught up in the moment of what lights us up. When we feel lit up, we're able to build more energy instead of feel drained, which not only allows us to feel more invigorated by life but it also pushes the momentum of our goals forward.
By incorporating activities on a regular basis that make us feel inspired and excited about life, that enthusiasm naturally spills into other realms, creating magnetism for other good things to surface. Try this journal exercise - be HONEST with yourself, see where you're holding back on living a life of joy, passion and pleasure. Once you uncover the things that light you up, give them a whirl for 4 weeks and observe the changes in how you feel on a spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical level.
Take inventory of what lights you up.
That can be a big question, so start by journaling:
What made me happiest as a child?
What am I naturally good at?
What do people tell me I am extra-ordinary at?
What’s an activity/hobby that I’ve always been intrigued by but never thought I could do?
When do I feel most in the flow?
Image: Stefan Scholten and Carole Baijings for Georg Jensen
The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit.”