My mum and dad gave me a few bits of great advice as a young boy (along with a fair amount of scolding for being an idiot, but that’s another story!), but there is one thing my late father told me that has affected my outlook and approach to life more than almost anything else, and it was this:
If you can be the most enthusiastic person you know, then you won’t go far wrong.
It was always said to me with a wry smile, as if I was being told something of infinite power. And he was right.
Enthusiasm so often makes the critical difference: it sustains you when times are tough, it encourages those around you, it is totally infectious and it rapidly becomes a habit!
In turn, that enthusiasm adds the extra 5 per cent sparkle to everything we do — and life is so often won or lost in that little extra bit that carries us home over the finish line.
In fact, I believe enthusiasm can make such a massive and positive difference to people’s lives that it should be taught as part of a school’s curriculum. After all, it’s one of the key attributes that smart employers look for. (It’s certainly something I place huge value on when I’m choosing expedition members.)
Imagine interviewing a candidate who says they love getting up early and being the first into work, and they love warming up people’s days with a smile and getting their colleagues a cup of tea to cheer them up. That all they want is the chance to show you how hard they can work and how they will always go the extra mile.
Wow! You’d be like, right, when are you free? I’d give that person a shot over the candidate with the better A-level results any day.
So how do you teach it?
Well, you reward it and lead by example, for a start.
Encouraging enthusiasm is one of the most important things I do in my work with the Scouts. If I can get the message across to kids who might not be doing all that well at school that they can distinguish themselves and get A+ in the game of life by being enthusiastic in all they do — especially when times are tough and others are moaning — I know I can make a critical difference to their future.
Success almost always follows great attitude. The two attract each other.
You may not be the fastest, the fittest, the cleverest or the strongest, but there’s nothing to stop you from being the most enthusiastic person you know. Nothing at all, except your willingness to step up and be a little different from the crowd.
So make enthusiasm a daily decision, even when you don’t feel like it. We can all choose our attitude, and one of the best reasons for choosing positive attributes is the alternative — which means if you don’t pick a good attitude, then you’ve got a bad one, or, even worse, a lukewarm, insipid, neutral one.
If you have to have any type of attitude to tackle each day, you might as well choose to make it a great one and make enthusiasm a driving force for good in your life.
People will love you for it, and remember you for it.
After all, who doesn’t like to work with enthusiastic people?
I know I do.