Excitement Must be Controlled
When any excitement is experienced, it is a great thing. But when excitement directs us, it is a dangerous thing.
Doesn’t it good to feel excited?
What do you get excited about and why?
There are probably some days of the week or days of the year that you look forward to much more than others. I know that’s true for myself.
If we’re alive each day of our lives, why are we not excited to live each day of our lives?
I think that’s a little backward honestly.
For me, it’s important that I can look forward to each and every day of my life — I know that’s how I will give 100% on a regular basis.
The Messages We Send Our Bodies
For other people, they don’t always share that same view.
Some people prefer to “conserve” their energy for things that they care the most about.
They might mow the lawn on a Saturday and take their good old time, miss a few spots, drink a beer, and get ready for what they really care about — a Saturday night party.
But that doesn’t make sense to me.
Our subconscious mind, for one, will not think of your daily activities in the same way.
If you only give 50% effort during “mundane” tasks like mowing the lawn, cooking dinner, driving, or whatever else comes to mind… that’s what your subconscious mind is going to remember.
And your subconscious mind is always working.
When you’re asleep the subconscious mind is awake and communicating.
What sort of messages do you want to send your body? Positive ones I would hope.
Excitement is a positive message; excellence is also a positive message.
When we do things halfway, we send messages to the rest of our being (and to those around us) that 50% is enough for us.
If you’re okay with 50%, stop reading this and read this instead:
More than 50% — Life to the Fullest
If you know that 50% is not and never will be good enough, let’s continue.
We can often become interested in certain areas but cannot attain excellence in all areas.
We may become satisfactory or proficient but is that something to get excited about? It depends.
What are the goals that we have for whatever this is? What are we looking to do? Perhaps we want to just get the job done. But is that enough?
There are so many different factors that it is difficult to say. Perhaps that is enough but perhaps it’s not. For some people, they just want to punch the clock and get the job completed.
But are those people excited? Are they excited about what they are doing or excited about their lives?
Usually not.
Is that good? Probably not — but that’s up to the individual.
Lack of excitement is not a good thing in most cases, it leaves something to be desired.
But as we will see next, overexcitement is also not a good thing in most cases…
Why We Need to Control Excitement
It’s important to control excitement for a few reasons.
Mainly, when we are incredibly excited we allow ourselves to become overconfident.
That’s dangerous and often detrimental.
When we are overconfident we try to do things that we usually know we are not able to do.
Whether that results in losing a major client because we didn’t prepare for our meeting
Whether that leads to a broken bone because we lift too heavy of a weight
Whether that results in a failed exam because we didn’t study
Whether that leads to a botched interview because we did not develop rapport
Whether that results in a lost sports game because we overlooked the fundamentals
or Whether that ends with an unhappy spouse because we did not treat them appropriately
It’s not good.
Excitement must be controlled.
Without controlling some of our strongest most intense emotions, we become a slave to them.
When any excitement is experienced, it is a great thing.
But when excitement directs us, it is a dangerous thing.
We need to maintain control of ourselves and our emotions — awareness is step 1.
You should NEVER be in a situation and ask yourself, “wait why I am doing this?”
When emotions drive our lives, we run into difficulties and you’ll see this time and time again. The most effective people in history always had a rein on their emotions. Not a tight rein — but a manageable one (and that’s different for each of us).
“A really intelligent man feels what others only know.” — Baron de Montesquieu