Enthusiasm – the Sixth Key to a Successful Future

Enthusiasm – The Sixth Key to a Successful Future

n my previous series of articles on the It is the difference between winning many Keys To Your Future, I have given you tournaments and not winning. It is the Ithe first five keys to your success: Focus, difference between millions of dollars and Unique, Teamwork, Urgency, and barely making a living. Recommit. The first key, Focus, is what How do you take advantage of the Slight keeps you on track toward your goal. The Edge? The key is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is Enthusiasm second key, Unique, describes the unique like a magnet. It attracts to you those things talents that each person has that help us that you set out to achieve. It creates the obtain our goals. The third and fourth keys, conditions for a successful result. It enables Teamwork and Urgency, enable you, with you to take advantage of the opportunities as the help of your team, to achieve your goal they present themselves. is created. It is not enough just to know and keep you moving toward your goal, Recently, there have been a number of everything about a subject – you must respectively. The fifth key to your success is books published about the importance of believe it. The only way to believe to Recommit every day to your goals as emotional intelligence. These books have something is to test your knowledge of that consistent daily commitment is essential to shown that the critical determinant of success subject. By putting your knowledge to the your ultimate success. The sixth key to your is not a person’s academic intelligence, but test, you create belief in the validity and truth future is Enthusiasm. rather their emotional intelligence – their of that knowledge. This belief generates a Enthusiasm, the final key to your future, ability to control and manage their emotions strong emotional commitment, which fosters may be the most important key of all. in various situations and settings. Enthusiasm intense enthusiasm. Without enthusiasm, the other five keys is the key to this emotion management. I enjoy playing golf as much as possible. It become virtually powerless. Enthusiasm is Enthusiasm allows you to control the is one of my favorite pastimes. I am most the energy, the fuel, the blazing fire that emotional climate of any given situation. enthusiastic about golf when I learn brings about a successful result. A famous How do you develop the power of something new about it and actually test it on writer once said that nothing great ever enthusiasm? There are three critical steps: the golf course and find out that it works. happened without enthusiasm. If you want to ♦ Interest – First you must have a strong Whenever I learn a new technique or a new accomplish great things; if you want to interest or curiosity in knowing about a skill and practice it on the golf course and realize great goals; if you want to live a great specific subject. In other words, if you want improve my score, I become extremely life, you absolutely must possess enthusiasm to be enthusiastic with people, you must be enthusiastic about it. The same holds true for for everything you do. interested in them. You must want to know every area of life, whether it be relationships, Why is enthusiasm so important to about them. You must want to establish a work, physical fitness, spirituality, or success? The reason is that the difference relationship with them. If you want to be personal development. between success and failure is often minute. enthusiastic about your work, you must be Most people are sleepwalking through Two people with virtually the same amount interested in it. You must want to know life, suffering “quiet lives of desperation.” Is of skill and talent can differ vastly in the everything there is about your particular job. this going to be the story of your life or are amount of success they achieve. This You must want to read about it in your off you going to wake up? Are you going to feel difference can’t be attributed to having more hours. You must want to learn, learn, learn. the enthusiasm and passion of living a life ability than the other person. In fact, in many ♦ Knowledge – Many people are interested that you have always dreamed of? cases, the more successful person actually in any number of subjects, but until they The problem is that most people wait to be has less ability. The difference is in really learn about these things, they never enthusiastic about something. Unfortunately, enthusiasm. develop the knowledge necessary to create enthusiasm doesn’t hit us – it must be This difference between success and enthusiasm. Action is the key to turning created. We must take responsibility for failure is what we call the “Slight Edge.” The interest into knowledge. When you are creating this enthusiasm in our lives. It is Slight Edge means that you don’t have to be interested in something, you must act on it to only then that we can fulfill our dreams and 10 times or 20 times or 100 times better than find out the knowledge that you are seeking. truly accomplish our future.

the next person. You must simply be slightly As you build knowledge of the subject you

better to achieve great success. are interested in, this then creates the By Randy Slechta, President of Leadership Management International, In the world of professional golf, less condition for the third important step. Inc. a global leadership and than half a stroke per round separates the ♦ Belief – Belief is where you transform organizational development top player from the fiftieth or hundredth your knowledge from simple academic company. best player. Yet, this half a stroke difference information and facts to emotional is the difference between success and failure. commitment. This is where true enthusiasm