19 March 2008

Enthusiasm Vs Compulsion

Enthusiasm is one of the key elements for any success. The opposite of enthusiasm is compulsion and force. If something is done with enthusiasm the result will be tremendously successful.

Take for example a fisherman. He goes out to the sea before dawn breaks and comes back with some fish as his catch. But how many fishermen do this activity with enthusiasm. If fisherman ‘A’ catches a bigger catch the probable reason for this is that he does his job with enthusiasm. If he misses his catch each time the net is thrown he will still be happy for another go.

In ancient warships, slaved oarsmen were used to drive the ship into collision to enemy ships. The slaves were whipped to drive the ship by rowing it. Compulsion is used to reach an objective. The Great Wall of China is visible from space. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Another example of how compulsion can do to reach an objective.

Enthusiasm can be a very nice word but in fact it is the other face of all unhappiness. An office manager in his enthusiasm of bringing his staff together arranged for an expensive party. After he has done that, the next morning his director became very upset as he was not invited for the occasion. The enthusiasm of one person can be and may always be a factor for spreading unhappiness elsewhere.

In the many Roman wars in history, the roman army ‘chief’ got all the good name from the roman king for his victory. The Chinese kings were able to ward off the attacks from the enemies after they had built the Great Wall. But on the other side, the slaves that rowed the ship and those who built the wall faced the affliction.

But if you think again, the history of mankind could have been built on total enthusiasm. If you pursue something you are enthusiastic about you need to draw out the process line of reaching the objective. You will have to be vigilant of those who will be affected by your pursuit. And then, you need to pull them towards your enthusiasm. The Great Pyramid could have been built by total enthusiasm. The present day skyscrapers are built by more or less with total enthusiasm.

Petronas is one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world. The Petronas Towers were featured in the blockbuster movie Entrapment, starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones. It took 36,910 tons of steel to build the Petronas Towers. That is heavier than 3,000 elephants! It takes 90 seconds to travel from the basement parking lot to the top of each tower. Together, the towers have 32,000 windows. It takes window washers an entire month to wash each tower just once!

The cost of the Petronas is $1.6 billion which consists of the Wages and salaries of builders, consultant and architects and others to erect such building.

For every enthusiasm there is a price to pay. If you only can spread out the price equally and with fairness total enthusiasm is achieved.

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