One of the hugely important concepts that I learned this week. The book that I am reading and both of my mentors tried to drill the same idea into my head, so I figure it must be pretty important:
"Everyone is born enthusiastic, but we trade our enthusiasm for guarantees. We trade our enthusiasm for the idea that if we do not get excited and do not get our hopes up, we will not end up disappointed.
Did the trade work? Or did you end up disappointed anyway? Swapping enthusiasm for guarantees does not work. Even if you do not get excited, you still get disappointed and discouraged. The whole plan fails.
The truth is, you need to be excited about your life and your
relationships. You need to have enthusiasm for people to want
to be a part of what you are doing, whether it is working in a
job or working as a volunteer or working with your family or
working in a business.
Enthusiasm is what gives us hope. The truth is, nothing is guaranteed or secure. You will still get discouraged
and disappointed and you still will deal with disadvantage.
But I still would much rather be excited and enthusiastic, because
that improves the quality of my life as opposed to not getting my
hopes up and just going for what is safe and secure.
There is no life in safety and security.
The 98% is living with the excitement in their lives completely flat lined on a graph, except for a couple of short spikes on a birthday or come the Super Bowl. That is no way to live." - Dani Johnson