Communicating Enthusiasm
“Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
It can be difficult to model real enthusiasm in our lives. While we may feel comfortable sharing our ideas and passions with other business owners and managers in person on the phone or via email, some situations require a very different approach. What about at home with our families; in church or in the community?
Simply having enthusiasm is not enough – it’s very important that we keep on learning new ways to communicate it.
As entrepreneurs, we often take ourselves and our business so seriously that the real joy and passion for growing it gets locked up inside us. If others can’t see that we are having fun, why would they want to associate with us?
Nobody will ever understand our business like we do – after all, it’s our baby! It is our job to educate and motivate others to see it as favorably as we do.
Employees, customers and even vendors are continually forming opinions about us as owner/managers and about our company. Realizing that every interaction is an opportunity to reinforce a positive image is critical to gaining their support of our mutual efforts to help it grow.
The well of emotion from which we draw our enthusiasm has a finite amount of “living water” within it. To live a healthy and balanced life, we must reserve an appropriate amount of this precious resource to share with our family, friends, outside interests, and ourselves.
Enthusiasm is a two-way street. We must take a proactive interest in the lives and businesses of others if we expect them to reciprocate. Being enthusiastic about the success of others is an open invitation for them to help us reach our goals.
