Fired With Enthusiasm

Along with "Carpe diem," Horace said, "He has the deed half
done who has made a beginning." Indira Gandhi also thought
that getting on with getting on is the way to go, "Have a
bias toward action - let's see something happen now. You
can break that big plan into small steps and take the first
step right away." John Fitzgerald Kennedy joined the get
your get up and go up and going chorus when he said, "There
are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are
far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable
inaction." And perchance you think that people will simply
assume that you have good intentions without your actually
needing to go for it, the famous Anon pointed out,
"Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your
intentions. You may have a heart of gold -- but so does a
hard-boiled egg."

There you have it, the argument for not sitting around
twiddling your thumbs; but, as with most ideas, there is an
alternative point of view. One might suppose that it's now
time to dig in, go for the gusto, strike while the iron is
hot, expatiate, explicate, and generally expound on that
alternative point of view; but one would be wrong. Remember
Johann von Goethe's warning, "There is nothing more
frightful than ignorance in action."

If that isn't sufficient to slow the pace, also remember
Walter Kerr's observation, "Half the world is composed of
idiots, the other half of people clever enough to take
indecent advantage of them." It would be well to first
determine whether one is clever, an idiot, or merely a
clever idiot before jumping to an ill considered
conclusion. If all of that still doesn't put the brakes on
for you, persuade you to look before you leap, and convince
you not to jump off the cliff until you learn how to fly,
listen to Laurence J. Peter, "Fortune knocks but once, but
misfortune has much more patience." And speaking of
misfortune, even Horace advised you to put no trust in
tomorrow.

OK, you've got them, the alternative points of view. Do you
act or not act, take a chance or play it safe? Sure, you
need to Carpe diem; but it's worth pointing out that even
Horace didn't say that it can't wait till after lunch.

Having said that and with a balanced perspective firmly in
mind, know that, "If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you
will be fired with enthusiasm." -- Vince Lombardi

This isn't always true but is true enough often enough. It
may not be true if you are the boss' kid, the only one who
knows how to drive the truck, or if it's your ball and you
will take it and go home if they don't let you pitch. Other
than that, think of it as Lombardi's immutable law of
continuing employment. Oliver Wendell Holmes even knew the
source of the fire, "Through our great good fortune, in our
youth our hearts were touched with fire. It was given to us
to learn at the outset that life is a profound and
passionate thing."

You probably won't want to take the getting fired up thing
as far as John Wesley did. He is the one who said, "I set
myself on fire and people come to watch me burn." Even so,
John W. Foster's point is definitely worth keeping in mind,
"One of the strongest characteristics of genius is the
power of lighting its own fire." Turning into a torch like
Wesley is going a tad too far; but keeping a match handy to
light your own fire might be pretty cool, so to speak.
Being a genius certainly can't hurt your chances of
avoiding the employment ax, if it falls.

If you don't happen to have a promising future as a genius,
Napoleon Hill offers some useful advice, "The starting
point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in
mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small
amount of fire makes a small amount of heat." You need to
have a strong desire to succeed, a lot of Lombardi's
enthusiasm. As Publius Terentius Afer pointed out, "There
is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you
do it reluctantly."

Winston Churchill hit the same nail on the head, "Attitude
is a little thing that makes a big difference." And Robert
Schuller drove it home when he said, "Do what you can,
where you are, with what you have." Schuller could have
easily added, "And do it enthusiastically." Should you be
thinking that the fire you need exceeds your capacity, the
popular Anon. has a parting thought just for you, "If you
really want to do something, you'll find a way; if you
don't, you'll find an excuse."

----------------------------------------------------
For more articles from Gary Crow, visit
http://www.BusinessStew.net
and http://www.BusinessStew.com