Ep 15 🐏Sheep Dogs🐕, Enthusiasm👍, & Red Dye #40😬

What Enthusiasm…Aint: its not adrenaline, its not excitement, its not red dye #40, its not psyching yourself up for something. And its definitely not a false belief that our glee can bridge a skills gap that we haven’t yet earned. 

✅ Meaningful Enthusiasm and desire are what change mediocrity to excellence. 

✅ Enthusiasm carries you 

✅ Enthusiasm leads you to or assists in helping you find your flow 

✅ The clarity of your Enthusiasms are acquired while in the act of doing 

✅ Finding sustainable enthusiasm is vital for your life.

✅ Enthusiasm is abundance.

✅ Enthusiasm is the sustainable “feel good” (joy).

✅ You dont possess enthusiasm, enthusiasm possesses you.

==========================
Mike Rowe : The Dirty Truth
https://youtu.be/CVEuPmVAb8o

Transcript

There’s a story told of a young couple who got lost one weekend while hiking in the mountains near Parowan Utah. They got pretty turned around and walked most of the day looking for help. Around dusk they ran into a large sheep camp in the summer mountains with the grazing sheep, the curious lambs, and what looked like several very skilled and engaged sheep dogs. They announced their presence towards what looked like a tin covered wagon from which there was a steady stream of smoke coming from the chimney. Out stepped an old gentleman with a beard that hadn’t been shaved or groomed, in a few months. They’d soon find out that he was an old coal miner from back east turned sheepherder. They asked for directions out of the mountains. It was late in the evening so the old sheepherder asked, “Why dont you stay for the night? I’ll make you dinner and find you a warm place to sleep. And I will give you directions in the morning. Besides, I could use some company, i havent seen another human for a few weeks now, and the sheep sounds are beginning to drive me Maaaaaaaaad. 

They agreed, he replied “that’d be great, I’ll have dinner ready in about 10 minutes.” He was rustling up something that looked suspiciously like wild game, but I’m sure that Spur would refer to it as free range wallaby stew. The ol sheepherder said if they’d like to help prepare for supper they could set out the plates, cups, and silverware that were stacked in the center of the table. Well they were both exhausted and starving, and now more than ever they were happy for the help, and the food. As one of them took the stack of ceramic coated tin plates with that spotted design and started setting them in place it was noticed that some appeared to still be somewhat dirty. She asked if by chance the plates hadn’t been washed already, and if out of gratitude she might just quickly do that. The ol sheepherder responded with surprising enthusiasm and confidence, “Oh no, they’ve been washed with 3 waters, and should be good to go.” They shrugged their shoulders and thought to themselves, “3 waters, that sounds pretty thorough, maybe its just the lighting in this sheep wagon.” So they layed out the plates. The meal was extraordinary, as are most meals out on the trail, or lost and just grateful for food. As they polished off the last of the “wallaby stew”, they asked if they could help with clean up and washing the dishes. “Sure” he said, “put your dirty plates into the empty stew pot on the table.” Upon doing this, the sheepherder picked up the pot and walked to the rear of the sheep wagon, down the steps and set the plates and pots on the ground. He then promptly made two quick whistles, and enthusiastically yelled, “Allegheny, Monongahela, Ohio, here 3 waters, leave the sheep for a moment and come and clean em up.”

A couple weeks ago while we were in the garden gathering the squash and tomatoes the day before the first frost, my son asked me, “Dad, what is Enthusiasm?”

Enthusiasm by itself isnt meaningful. Mike Rowe from the popular program “Dirty Jobs” alerted up and comers in the labor market to be leery of some “terrible advice”, which he labels as “follow your passion”. The incongruency of your passion vs your abilities can be stark. “Just because you’re passionate about something doesnt mean you wont suck at it.” (There’ll be a link to Mike Rowes video in the show notes) 

We can be “enthused” about something and still not do a decent job or even an acceptable job. Like the sheepherder “cleaning” the dishes. My son is enthused about washing dishes at home because it means money. That enthusiasm/passion for trading dish washing for money doesnt create a skill in immaculately cleaning dishes. He’s still learning the rules about washing some of the dirtiest of pots and pans first, in their own water, with extra detergent. So occasionally we get the 3 waters effect, and the washed dishes, have to be cleaned before they can be placed on the table. 

My enthusiasm and passions are not always congruent with my skills or abilities. I am a dad who has been sewing things most of my life. From buttons to tears, salvaging wranglers to repairing a ski coat that during an awesome black diamond crash at BrianHead ski resort I had incidentally run my own ski through the chest and shoulder area. Aside from clothing, i have tied off a bleeding artery, doctored and bandaged the leg on a horse leg during a cold winter in Dixie national forest when we were moving them to winter pasture. And in the mid 90’s while working in Phoenix, AZ I split open my chin during a late evening adventure at a resort in Scottsdale as we swam their many pools, until that last dimly lit and more shallow than thought pool, as i shallow dove the pool after dark, and quickly made my upward turn to the surface, my chin struck the bottom, which shattered some back teeth and split my chin open a good inch plus. Most of the previous chin scars were from an old Shetland pony named Flash. Who had the uncanny habit of leaning his head down on unsuspecting kids while he was standing on extra hard surfaces. Well this time in Scottsdale, on a warm summer evening, I came out of the water holding my chin, & spitting out bits of teeth. As i got out of the pool, my cousin Jason, who had saved my life previous to this incident from a cliff diving accident at Lake Powell, looked at my new booboo and said, “Oh gosh thats super bad”. My only response was, “you would make a terrible EMT”. Honesty amongst cousins was always a blessing, even when the comments could have sent me into shock. After arriving home that night i consulted by phone with Uncle Bill who was a Dr. in Henderson Nevada. And he pretty much just said to sterilize the needle with alcohol or a lighter, and use clean thread. So we chose the colors of the Phoenix Suns (purple and Orange). And with a penny taped to my finger for a thimble, and the aid of my other cousin Matt, we proceeded to put 4 stitches into my chin. Matt would guide where the needle needed to go, and then i had to puncture the skin (much tougher than you might think, hence the penny thimble) and he would pull the brightly colored stitches through and tie them off. 

This morning in preparation for school my son put on a hoodie that he had been given by a friend. He mentioned as he came from brushing his teeth that it had a hole in it. I could see from the shoulder that the seam had come undone. “If you leave that home, I’ll stitch it up for you today.” So he promptly removed it, and i didnt think much else about it, I drove him with his dog down to the bus stop, and we visited while waiting for the bus. I arrived home, showered and got ready for my day working from home. As I remembered my promise to make a quick stitch of his jacket, i went into his room to retrieve the item. I gathered my sewing items. Turned on a podcast, and sat in anticipation of a quick mend. Well 3 hours later i was still stitching. It went from one shoulder seam to the other, to the inside seam of the shoulder. Then i found several holes in the arm, the cuff was without a stitch, and the silky liner of one arms was fraying at the armpit where the young hands are a little too rough with putting on the hoodie. Did i think about quitting as each new tear, hole, undone area presented itself, kinda, but i was also invested into making the clothing item functional, and complete in my imperfect seamstress way. And so in my meaningful enthusiastic way, i trudged on until the task was complete. I learned a few new tricks about sewing a seam, and hiding the tail when finished. But overall the repair job was adequate. And I didnt let my enthusiasm tell me otherwise. 

The word “Enthusiasm” entered the English language around the beginning of the 17th century. It was borrowed from the Greek word “enthousiasmos”, meaning “inspiration or possession by a god.” For the first two hundred or so years that it was used in English, enthusiasm was primarily employed to refer to beliefs or passions that related to religion or spiritual experiences. By the beginning of the 18th century, however, the word began to be used to describe having strong feelings or interest in secular matters.

So……Meaningful enthusiasm is a spiritual movement within us. Sometimes done to us, but much more effective when we seek it out and open ourselves up to it. 

In episode 5 we talked about being “selffull” (Recap $20 dog sitting story) 

Happiness “sometimes” accompanies Enthusiasm. Yet Happiness is NOT required to accompany enthusiasm. 

A “positive” emotion is not necessary for enthusiasm. Especially meaningful enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is like a carrier emotion. Enthusiasm carries you. A strong restless excitement about something, an active interest. An intense emotion, a compelling action. You have to find your enthusiasm to be able to fully and meaningfully participate for the longevity. Joh Acuff refers to this as having a motivation portfolio. Figuring out what it is to activate your meaningful enthusiasms. 

Enthusiasm is the underlying current. Not the surface emotion. 

Salt river story. That river was full of enthusiasm. Colorado River experience. That kind of undercurrent can happen in your life, in a good way. In a way that most people who dwell on the surface will never see. Tim Ferris says in The 4-Hour Workweek, “Being busy is a form of laziness—lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding critically important but uncomfortable actions.”

Another word that goes with meaningful enthusiasm is,

Zeal: energetic and unflagging pursuit of an aim or devotion to a cause.

Many decades ago, Charles Schwab, who was earning a salary of a million dollars a year, was asked if he was being paid such a high salary because of his exceptional ability to produce steel. Charles Schwab replied, "I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among others as the greatest asset I possess, and the way to develop the best that is in others is by appreciation and encouragement."

When I think of some of the experiences and stories of what i would consider misplaced enthusiasm, I’m reminded of an experience when i was going to college at Southern Utah University. My roommate Craig Peterson had recently purchased this new Black and Red Chevy truck, a real flashy ride. And we took it into the mountains on Cedar Mountain that winter to test out the 4 wheel drive. As it seems that country kids like to do. Well as we got up to the summit of state highway 14, we found where the snow plows had stopped clearing the road. I dont remember Craig Peterson hesitating when he saw the transition from clear road to a road with enough powder to cover the wheels. The roommate sitting in the middle felt the exhilaration of the moment, and in his excitement all he could think to say was, “KEEP UP THE MULTITUDE!”

So there you go. Enthusiasm is most likely not what you fully thought it was, but it is also so much more meaningful than you we thought it could be. 

Takeaways:
What Enthusiasm…Aint: its not adrenaline, its not excitement, its not red dye #40, its not psyching yourself up for something. And its definitely not a false belief that our glee can bridge a skills gap that we haven’t yet earned. 

✅ Meaningful Enthusiasm and desire are what change mediocrity to excellence. 

✅ Enthusiasm carries you 

✅ Enthusiasm leads you to or assists in helping you find your flow 

✅ The clarity of your Enthusiasms are acquired while in the act of doing 

✅ Finding sustainable enthusiasm is vital for your life.

✅ Enthusiasm is abundance.

✅ Enthusiasm is the sustainable “feel good” (joy).

✅ You dont possess enthusiasm, enthusiasm possesses you.