The Catalyst for Excellence: Enthusiasm! (Heroic +1 #1,734)

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Heroic one. In our last couple ones, we talked about the odds of success and what a couple of the world's most successful people have to say about it. In short, to briefly recap in How Champions Think, Bob Rotella tells us that exceptional people ignore the realistic goals set by average people and create their own reality. In the Achievement Habit, Bernard Roth echoes this wisdom as he tells us that essentially he exceptional people ignore the realistic goals set by average people and create their own reality. Let's be clear, as Rotella says, and I quote, striving to be exceptional is never easy. But when people tell me what I'm suggesting they do won't be easy, I just say, you're right. Going after big ideas takes sweat. It takes persistence, patience, and a bedrock belief in yourself. Not everyone will do it. That's why we call it being exceptional. Today I want to chat about one of the engines of that type of success. It's one of the cornerstones of Wooden's pyramid of success we talked about not too long ago, enthusiasm. Here's how Rotella puts it in Howe Champions League. Again, he tells us, to borrow an analogy from chemistry, enthusiasm acts like a catalyst that makes all the other attributes of a champion's mind work better. Persistence, to take one important example, is so much easier when you're enthused about what you're doing. Sticking with something you love is like biking downhill. Sticking with something you don't love is like biking uphill. Angela Duckworth would agree. She tells us that grit is the ultimate hallmark of great performers in any domain. As we discuss in our notes on her classic book Grit. Again, check them out. She says Grit has two parts, intense passion and intense perseverance. Note the emphasis on intense for both of those qualities, and note the passion or enthusiasm she's talking about isn't the fireworks display kind of passion that shows up and then disappears a few seconds later. It's a deep, stable, grounded passion for whatever it is you choose to dedicate your life to. That's more like a compass than fireworks. And again, that passion is intense. Why is that enthusiasm for what we do important? Because, I repeat, sticking with something you love is like biking downhill. Sticking with something you don't love is like biking uphill. Brotella tells us that we either need to do what we love or love what we do. And he reminds us that it's not easy even for champions to maintain that enthusiasm. He also tells us, and I quote, but as Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, nothing great has ever been achieved without enthusiasm somewhere. And somehow exceptional people find the way to bring that enthusiasm to what they do. And they find it every day. Now, that Emerson quote he's referring to, it's one of my go to quote mantras I've memorized and repeated to myself thousands of times. Emerson tells us, and I quote him, enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might, put your whole soul into it, stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. And that's today's poisson. Enthusiasm. It's the catalyst that makes all the other attributes of a champion's mind work better. How's yours? And remember, when you do a thing, do it with all your might, put your whole soul into it, stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. When, as always, today's the day, hero.