Focus Your Enthusiasm

by District Governor Ken Sisco, DTM

We Need Focus and Enthusiasm

When I chose the phrase “Focused Enthusiasm” as the District Theme for this year, I was thinking of its application to our District Officers. I wanted to make the point that Enthusiasm without Focus is chaos, and Focus without Enthusiasm is drudgery and boredom. I have often noted that Founder’s District has an abundance of Enthusiasm but often lacks Focus. It was my goal to add focus to the mix by making sure that every District Officer knows precisely what his or her job is and how to do it. The trick is to add the Focus without dampening the Enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm Comes from Within

For Vince Lombardi, it was easy; he said simply, “If you are not fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.” In my view, that is much too simplistic; we cannot “demand” enthusiasm, even of ourselves. Enthusiasm must come from within. The same is not true of focus. We can give a teammate a proverbial slap in the face and demand, “Focus!” Often the reply will be “Thanks, I needed that,” and the person will actually focus on completing the task with enthusiasm. All this is true because enthusiasm is an issue of values, whereas focus is an issue of the will.

Toastmasters have an edge. With few exceptions, we joined Toastmasters because we wanted to improve ourselves, and that implies at least a measurable amount of enthusiasm for doing so. But Toastmasters is not, or at least should not be, an end in itself. It is a means to the end of making ourselves better equipped to deal with the world around us.

Find the Value, and the Enthusiasm Will Follow

Recently, it occurred to me that the concept of “focused enthusiasm” should apply to every aspect of our lives. For example, in our non-Toastmasters lives, we are able to focus because we have to in order to keep our job or to achieve other goals, but the enthusiasm is often hard coming. Remember, enthusiasm is an issue of values. The key is always to find value in what you are doing. If you cannot find any value in it, then why are you doing it? Once you focus on those things you value, you cannot help being enthusiastic, and your success will be inevitable.