Mike, vice president for a large building company in southern Oregon, told Session 7B of the Leadership Development Lab:

“When I received my red dot at Session 3, I knew immediately where I needed to apply 5x more enthusiasm. I knew even with five times more enthusiasm it would take a considerable amount of time to clean out my old office. My goal was to discard between half and twothirds of all the accumulated stuff. My new office arrangement could only accommodate about half as much as my old office layout. This was a real challenge for me. The whole idea was to create a much cleaner work environment than I was currently living in. I ended up cleaning out items that had been in my old office for up to thirty years. You see, my office had really never been cleaned out completely and had served as a multi-generational office within our family. My dad and uncle in succession had previously occupied my office. Cleaning out the things that had accumulated over three decades of change was a very interesting walk down memory lane. Deciding what items to keep and what items to throw away wasn’t easy.

My task ended up taking approximately forty hours, cleaning out my old office over the course of three weeks, including Saturdays. I can say that I was able to clear out about 95% of my office during that time period. I was very proud of myself and felt a great sense of accomplishment. My dad was thrilled because I found many company and family pictures that

were about forty years old that we all thought were lost forever.

The lesson I learned from this experience is that if I roll up my sleeves and just get started, I can create the five times more enthusiasm needed to reach my goal. The action I call you to take is use the five times more enthusiasm/power in every task you undertake, in every job you do. Set goals and don’t procrastinate. Sometimes even dirty jobs that no one wants to do can still be fun with increased enthusiasm. Don’t let the project manage you, manage the project with five times more enthusiasm.

The benefit you will gain is you will develop increased confidence in yourself, have a great sense of accomplishment, and a calmness that always comes with a reduced stress level.”

Yes, deciding is half done, and persisting with intention and the power of resolve that 5X more enthusiasm adds ensures success. Those things we all have yet to do that we would like to do are waiting for us to start, waiting for us to make up our minds, decide, and persist past the natural resistance we meet. All we need is a clear vision of completion with determination and joyous anticipation of the vision realized. So make up your mind today to finish one of those nagging tasks before you, visualize the desired end result, go into action with 5x more enthusiasm, and your end result will exceed your grandest plans.