Optimize for Your Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm doesn’t have to be evasive.

If you aren’t an enthusiastic person, it’s hard to understand how someone could have such a strong feeling of excitement and passionate interest in something.

If you are an enthusiastic person, it’s hard to grasp how someone could live without eagerness towards a task, goal, or topic.

However, whether you are naturally enthusiastic or uncomfortably enthusiastic, it remains essential regardless of your tendencies.

Author James Clear said it well, “A simple rule for life that rarely fails: Optimize for enthusiasm. Make as many choices as you can that leave you feeling energetic and interested. Pay attention to when you have the urge to pursue or participate in something and do more of it.”

Clear is correct. You only get one chance at your life, so filling your time, energy, and effort with things that don’t create enthusiasm is a miss.

Enthusiasm is simply energy directed with purpose. It’s the catalyst that makes you try harder, persevere, and inspire others. The best part about it is that you can be enthusiastic about literally anything.

• A teacher who loves their subject or students teaches with it

• A coach who loves their sport elevates their team with it

• An engineer who is obsessed with solving problems has it

• A chef who loves the smell of the kitchen cooks with love

If you don’t feel enthusiastic, it doesn’t mean you are lazy or broken. It usually means you're disconnected from a purpose, making progress, or connected to the right people.

The hard truth is, enthusiasm doesn’t always hit you on the forehead (although it can). More often than not, it’s built.

The only question you must answer today is, “What are you going to be enthusiastic about?”

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