There are many ways to do fine work. One approach is to focus on the things you feel enthusiastic about, to be enterprising and then to deliver excellence.
Imagine that you want to follow elements of this approach in your own way. This can involve focusing on the following themes.
Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is a key driver in life. Doing the things we feel enthusiastic about can give us positive energy and help us to feel alive. What are the things you feel enthusiastic about?
Different people give different answers when exploring this theme. Here are some of the things they mention.
Enthusiasm – The things I
feel enthusiastic about are:
Encouraging people … Caring for animals … Cooking nutritious food … Renovating beautiful houses … Helping dyslexic children …. Finding a cure for a specific illness.
Writing inspiring articles … Helping people to build on their strengths … Solving certain challenges … Creating technology that simplifies people’s lives … Helping people to achieve success.
Different people feel enthusiastic about different things at different stages of their lives. When we are young, we may feel enthusiastic about pursuing our hobbies, learning and experiencing life.
We may then move on to feeling enthusiastic about earning our own money, travelling and shaping our future. We may then aim to build loving relationships, a family and doing satisfying work.
Ralph Waldo Emerson described the importance of enthusiasm in the following way.
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, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your objective. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
Sometimes enthusiasm is a choice. We choose to be enthusiastic about doing something because the other options are not as attractive. One person expressed this in the following way.
“The company I worked for went out of business. Looking ahead, I could choose to be resentful or I could be enthusiastic about looking for work.
“I chose to throw myself into pursuing the second option. This led to getting some project work with people I knew which eventually turned into being offered a full-time role.”
Enthusiasm can be something you look for when recruiting people. Bearing in mind a person’s strengths, it can be useful to explore some of the following questions when focusing on a person.
What is the person enthusiastic about doing? How do they demonstrate this enthusiasm? Do they have the ability to build on this enthusiasm, be enterprising and deliver excellences?
Let’s return to your own situation. What are the things you are enthusiastic about in your life and work? What may be one of these activities that you would like to pursue further? How can you do this in your own way?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
Enterprise
Imagine that you are focusing on one of the activities you feel enthusiastic about. What are the goals you would like to achieve when pursuing this activity? How can you work towards these in an enterprising way?
Different people show enterprise in different ways. Imagine that you lead a team and want to recruit a person who demonstrates this quality. Here are some questions to explore when considering whether a person shows enterprise.
Enterprise
Is the person positive? Are they proactive? Do they take initiatives? Do they explore various possibilities when tackling a challenge? Do they use their creativity to be enterprising?
Is the person good at decision making? Do they start by clarifying the outcomes to achieve? Do they explore the potential options going forwards and the consequences? Do they then make good decisions?
Is the person good at translating their decision into action? Do they do effective work? Do they find creative solutions to challenges? Do they focus on continuous improvement?
As mentioned earlier, different people may be enthusiastic about different things at different stages of their lives. It can be important to bear this in mind when focusing on whether a person may be enthusiastic about doing something at a certain stage of their career.
Imagine that you are focusing on an activity you feel enthusiastic about. What are the goals you want to achieve when pursuing this activity? What can you do to be enterprising when working towards these goals?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
Excellence
Great workers are often enthusiastic about absorbing themselves in doing deep work when doing certain activities. They may then aim to deliver high professional standards and do their best to deliver excellence.
They often find that taking this approach gives them the energy to feel alive and find solutions to challenges. Aldous Huxley expressed this in the following way.
The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.
People’s enthusiasms may evolve as they get older. Some may also reach a point in their lives where they want to take stock and refocus on working towards certain personal or professional goals.
Some entrepreneurs, for example, may enjoy founding and building a business. But they may reach a point where they feel more enthusiastic about doing other things in life.
This is a theme that sometimes comes up in mentoring sessions with founders. Whilst still feeling a responsibility for the people in their business, they want to recapture their zest for life.
Such people feel duty driven. They want to leave the business in a good place but also revitalise themselves. Looking ahead, we therefore explore how to find positive solutions. For example, a person may aim either:
To stay in the business, build on their strengths and focus on doing the things they give them positive energy;
To put somebody in charge of managing today’s business whilst they do pioneering projects that help to shape tomorrow’s business;
To hand-over the company to other people in the management team or to sell the business;
To move on from the business, regain their energy and then focus on personal or professional projects they feel enthusiastic about;
To change their lifestyle and focus on spending quality time with their family or doing other things that they find stimulating.
This may seem a luxurious problem but it highlights a key theme that relates to many situations. People who are enthusiastic about what they are doing are more likely to deliver excellence.
Let’s return to your own situation. Imagine that you are doing an activity that you feel enthusiastic about and you have also been enterprising. How can you then do your best to reach your goals and deliver excellence?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
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