(Part 2 of 4)
Are you an excited and enthusiastic person? Or is life a blah for you? What gets you up from bed in the morning? Do you dread getting up with the ringing alarm or are you awake before the alarm, anticipating with a smile what’s ahead of you for the day? Is life, for you, a struggle for survival; or is it a fun game that you play and look forward to every day?
This is the second part to a four-part series on “the secrets” of entrepreneurship: Being your BEST!
Believing in yourself and in your dream,
Enthusiasm as a chosen emotional state of excitement,
Systematically going through your chosen activity-job-business, and
Time allocation; what you focus and act on is what you get.
Today we go through a key element of success, which is being in a state of Enthusiasm. The key question is, how can I be in an emotional state of enthusiasm? Isn’t this a state that happens to me because of an event? Or is it a situation that I’m a part of, that’s me, that I’m born with, or grew up in?
Here’s the key. Most people have the belief that life happens to them, that they are an effect of circumstances, of the past, or of the present situation they are in. You may think that you can’t do what you want to do, that you can’t control your feelings. Here’s the answer. I quote the words of the inventor and entrepreneur-industrialist Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.”
The truth is that, within us lies the power. Our attitude is what determines the outcome of our life. Surely, external circumstances can influence our internal attitudes and emotional state. But the key is internal. If we accept the truth and believe that the decision is within us, then we become the source. We become self-determined and the primary cause, and cease to be an effect. We take the attitude and decision within ourselves that we are no longer the victim the situation. We become the cause and are no longer the effect.
I know that this viewpoint/attitude may initially be difficult and may seem unreal and weird. This is because, this truth is foreign and doesn’t agree with how most people live their life. If you have been feeling like a victim for most of your life it’s hard to see that the “script” that has guided your life can actually be changed by you. It’s almost like we feel ashamed to accept that what had defined our identity was just a script after all. The good news is that it’s never too late. Changing what’s comfortable is always difficult because it’s asking us to shift and move out of our comfort zone.
Here, we connect back to the first step of Belief. Go back to your dream or life goal that is exciting for you. Or go back to what in life you’re sick and tired of and want to change. That recognition of the exciting goal/pleasure you want to have, and the pain in your life that you want to avoid, will motivate and move you to change. The understanding of the pain and pleasure, when it’s great enough, is what can get you to decide and move. As soon as you see that you can then move. Now is the perfect time, whether you are 16 or 61.
Enthusiasm, even if you don’t feel it at the start, can be a skill that can be learned. Like a muscle that hasn’t been used or exercised for a while, your attitude can be trained. Once you see that enthusiasm is the key to your success, then you can work on it. Step by step like a child first learning to stand and walk, it may seem difficult and unnatural at the start. But with each step the natural exhilaration and enthusiasm are discovered and released!
Your assignment is to notice in the course of your day—beginning today–what emotional state you are usually in. Record it in a logbook if you will, and keep track of it every day for a week. Look at it and decide what you want to do.
The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek “the God (entheo) inside (iasm).”
Enthusiasm is the truth of who you really are! Enjoy!
Jorge “Jerry” Perez de Tagle, lives in the US and the Philippines and is an author and change management consultant for the private and public sector. He taught at Syracuse University, New York and has his PhD in Social Change, Honoris Causa, and is a PhD Candidate in Organization Development. He was one of the 10 Outstanding Entrepreneurs in 2009 and is now the National Chairman of The Way to Happiness Philippines Foundation, and is the Vice President for Global Outreach and International Relations with the US Federation of Philippine American Chamber of Commerce.
