Don't lose your enthusiasm

12:08:39 AM CST
Feeling Quiet
Hearing Annoying puppy now whinning

Don't lose your enthusiasm


THE POWER TO REALLY LIVE

I had just graduated from college and was about to move away to attend graduate school. An older friend said something to me I thought was odd at the time. She cautioned, "Don't ever lose your enthusiasm." I was not particularly aware that I had much enthusiasm, nor was I sure how to keep from losing it.

But since that time, I have come to realize what she meant. Over the years, I have been assailed by discouragement and difficulties. At times I have felt totally without energy and even disenchanted with life around me.

I like what Mark Twain said about enthusiasm. When asked the reason for his success, he replied, "I was born excited." I think I now know why my friend said, "Never lose your enthusiasm." For even if one is born excited, enthusiasm can be lost along the way. And too many of us never find it again.

However, the happiest, most fulfilled and most successful people have discovered the necessity of an enthusiastic approach to living. Thomas Edison was such a person. He was known for his energy and verve. He eventually acquired 1,093 patents for his inventions, including the electric light bulb, phonograph and motion picture camera. He was known to work tirelessly and joyfully. He seemed to love what he did
and pursued it with passion.

Edison eventually established Menlo Park, the first factory ever dedicated to making nothing but inventions. It was a forerunner of the private research laboratories now owned by many large corporations. Edison promised that Menlo Park would turn out a minor invention every ten days and something big every six months or so. At one point, he was working on 47 new projects at once! Others have made more money than Thomas Edison, but none have been more enthusiastic or productive.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object." Enthusiasm is an engine fueled by a love for what we do. It will power us anywhere we want to go and take us places we would never reach without it!

Steve Goodier's