E - is for...

E

Enthusiasm.
Energy.


“He did it with all his heart, and prospered.” The Bible
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"Enthusiasm is contagious. Be a carrier” Susan Rabin




“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might.

Put your whole soul into it.

Stamp it with your own personality

Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object.

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”
Ralph Waldo Emerson


“Enthusiasm is contagious. Be a carrier” Susan Rabin

The great playwright Tennessee Williams, (Death of a Salesman) believed that “enthusiasm is the most important thing in life.” And Henry Moore agreed “There is nothing greater than enthusiasm.”

It has been said that enthusiasm moves the world

Enthusiasm is essential to success.

Can you imagine an American Idol contestant winning who was not enthusiastic about singing?

Can you take the enthusiasm, the passion out of David Cook’s “The Time of My Life” winning song or his voice and still see him as a success?

The actual word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek words “enthousiasmos” meaning possession by the presence of god.

Hmm. Now this is worth pondering over a hot steaming cup of Java!!

No wonder Enthusiasm attracts.

How could one not be attracted by a divine presence sensed in another?

People naturally are curious when you are enthusiastic in your work.


Enthusiasm draws people to you whether your business is producing and marketing a product or offering a service, as put by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, “nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm, it moves stones, it charms brutes.”

Whatever your chosen field on entrepreneurship, you are bound to be more effective if you have enthusiasm for your work.

“A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm.” Charles Schwab.

Now maybe crunching numbers and building a financial business doesn't get your blood pumping, but obviously it did for Mr. Schwab. Just take a look at his success.

Consider this:
Some of the greats even rate enthusiasm above professional skill!

Ever wonder why we love children so much?They are endless examples of enthusiasm. Children set out each day to enjoy every bit of the day. Heed this words of wisdom, " The great man is he who does not lose his childlike heart" Mencius

Maybe you have lost some of your innate enthusiasm during the daily grind of solving issues and putting out fires.

Don’t despair.

No one keeps up his enthusiasm automatically.

Not even the greats like Michelangelo or Albert Einstein.

They tired too.

The difference is they continued.

They nourished their enthusiasm with new actions, new aspirations, new efforts, new visions.

And they showed up.

Day in and day out they showed up to continue to paint, experiment, write – not waiting for enthusiasm to come prior to beginning but instead beginning and knowing that the enthusiasm would again show up as they persevered and looked for “newness”.

To paraphrase a common saying..it is your own fault if your enthusiasm is gone; you have failed to feed it. Hm.mmmm. Is that true for you?

Nurture your enthusiasm.

Feed it with new ideas, new projects, new goals.

For if you don’t you burn out could be waiting around the bend.

Pete Rose, the great baseball player, shared this observation about players, "
When his enthusiasm goes, he's through as a player.".

YIKES...pretty harsh? Maybe, but maybe that is one of the Laws of Life. Maybe, just maybe we are not here so much to stack up accomplishments as we are here to go after this life with enthusiasm, using up every bit of creativity and inspiration we have. Maybe out goal should be to have this phrase on our tombstone "Whatever he did, he did it with all his heart."

Next we will talk about...ENERGY

More on D's...Dedicate Your Heart and Determine you Desitny....

Dedicate your Heart

and

Determine your Destiny:

We are all moved to support those things which we are dedicated to. Thomas Edison, great American Inventor and Entrepreneur once said:

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

When one has dedicated his/her heart to the outcome, the strength to try one more time often appears from the ashes. When others who are less passionate would walk away, those who are dedicated to ultimate success of their dream will go the extra mile. How many times, one wonders, has a business owner folded their hands and closed their doors when just around the corner was the breakthrough they had been waiting for.

Think of a teeter totter with a 100 pound weight at one end, representing return and a 50 at the other, representing your business. Now think of Effort/Persistence/Time being one pound weights which are added to the 50 side- One pound at a time- to the business or 50 side. This might take awhile. Yet once the 51st or 52nd or 55th one pound weight is added, the scales shift tremendously and drastically on the side of the “business or 50 pound side”. How often, one wonders has the business given up at the 49th pound?

Be Different.

Be One of Those who just keep adding weights, understanding the Rules of the Universe which govern things such as teeter-totters!!

Og Mandino, American Motivational Author and Speaker in his book “ The Greatest Salesman in the World” writes

“ Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough”

Determination will go a long way in seeing you through those bumps in the road. Determine your direction and then act! Like Andrew Jackson, (7th President of the United States) once said “ Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in!!!!!

Desires your Dreams:

One must not lose desires.

They are mighty stimulants to creativeness, to love, and to long life.- (Alexander A. Bogomoletz)
Without Desires life often becomes flat. Nature itself “desires” Desire is the drive behind our existence.
Without it, life can loose its flavor. People loose their zest for living.
Desire drives men and women to pro-create (which ensures the survival of the species) as well as to create and invent new products and services.

Desires drive creativity. Think of the toddler desiring to reach the “pretty” on the table.
There is no end to the toddler’s imagination as they think of ways to create the attainment of their goal – coffee tables, blocks, dad’s bike helmet…..

Let your desires make you as determined!!! Get back in touch with the "little engine that could" part of you which says "I think I can, I think I can ...I know I can!"

The great Albert Einstein said "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. " So when the successful entrepreneur encounters what appears to be an impasse, they may pull back and access the situation or go for a brief rest and reprieve letting their subconscious minds find the way through the maze, yet soon they are moving forward with new energy and determination.

B-

Believe



Believe in what you are creating, selling, producing, forming.

If you don’t – who else will???

"Belief in yourself, belief in your abilities, will override fear almost every time. The only thing we are afraid of is what we are capable of accomplishing." *Rich DiGirolamo


If you don’t believe in the product or service you are providing then do yourself, your family, and your future clients a favor and get out NOW and go look for something you do believe in.

Believe in YOURSELF – in your ability to create a the Life of Your Dreams –

Believe in your ability to become the Captian of Your ship and direct your business where you want it to go.
"Believe you can do it. Believing something can be done puts your mind to work for you and helps you find ways to do it." *George Shinn

Very well said George.

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.- Norman Vincent Peale

Marianne Williamson in her book a “Return to Love” puts it this way.

"Our greatest fear is not that we are are inadequate our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness which frightens us.

We think who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of god. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make and manifest the glory of god that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Wow.

Amazing.

What Power in Belief!!

Maybe this story will drive home the Power of Belief.


It was football season and East Carolina was playing North Carolina State. Now there was about 20,000 East Carolina fans sitting in a special section of the stadium set aside just for them. East Carolina was losing the game. The score: 37 to 9 with 7 minutes left in the game.

(stop for a moment and ask yourself…what is typically the outcome of a football game where one side is down 25 points with only 7 minutes left? ….they usually lose, correct?)

Then one guy in the alumni section begins to chant

“We Believe! We Believe! We Believe!!”

As he was chanting about 10 people joined in with him…

We Believe! We Believe! We Believe!

And then…………………………….


all of sudden…….

all 20,000 East Carolina fans began to chant


“We Believe! We Believe! We Believe!!!!!!”


East Caronlia went on to score 4 touchdowns and won the game 37-34.


*NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF BELIEF*

Building Blocks of Successful Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is a state of mind, a can-do attitude, a capacity to focus on a vision and work toward it."*Barry Rogstad

Just as a Master Builder would not consider placing his most precious building on a weak foundation, a Master entrepreneur would not proceed to build their business without first considering the foundation.

Building a strong foundation requires being aware of the variety of materials available and choosing those best suited for the job. This is true when building a great building or building a great business.

Our brains work best when we give them familiar "anchors" to hang bits of new information on. So...
Let's have some fun with this using the buildig blocks of language to explore the "building blocks" of successful entrepreneurship.

As Maria sang in the famous "Sound of Music"...let's 'start at the very begining...'

A -

Attitude and Action

Your Attitude ultimately determines your Altitude - how far up can you go in your business?

First let’s look at attitude:

Are you upbeat, positive about your product/service/idea?

Are you one who easily crumbles when things go awry or are you one who is able to focus on looking for solutions rather than focusing time and effort on dissecting the problem?

Let’s be honest here.

You do probably not want to be an entrepreneur just to have your business “break even”

In 2005, BITS showed that 66 percent of new employers survive two years or more, 50 percent survive four years or more, and 40 percent survive six years or more. Wouldn’t you like to be in that 40%?

Do you think possibly those that survive are the ones who have the attitude of solving any challenges which arose or do you think they were the ones who thought “yikes” this will be the doom of me.

Successful entrepreneurs train themselves to immediately look for solutions.

The great Albert Einstein once said “sticking with something is the genius”

Don’t you think this guy should know? After all not only was he a successful inventor he also published a total 450 works in his lifetime.

Not exactly a quitter.

Stay tuned as we move on with a few more great "A" materials for a firm foundation...