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Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve written about Harvey Mackay before, but he’s such an interesting person I’m going to write about him again… 

If you don’t know who he is, he owns an envelope company in Minnesota, the Mackay Envelope Company. 

Now, I couldn’t have made him sound more boring, safe and conservative if I had posted a picture of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.  But his story is actually very inspiring.  You could call him a successful Willy Loman, and considering he is very much alive and - by all appearances, rather wealthy, a VERY successful Loman… 

Harvey bought a failing envelope company in 1959 and today it’s a $100 million company.  I’m sure he worked very hard to build the company, but that begs the question, how do you grow an envelope company?  I mean, aren’t envelopes pretty much the same?? 

Not if you listen to Harvey Mackay.  Growing an envelope company is no different from growing a soccer team and that’s no different than building a bio-tech company.  It all has to do with motivation, and motivation comes from loving what you do.  He believes that so deeply, his company’s motto is "Do what you love, love what you do and deliver more than you promise."  Good advice for any endeavor.

Harvey has a weekly article which always has a few motivational nuggets.  This week’s article is entitled "Enthusiasm is the spark that ignites our lives".  The entire article is wonderful, but there is a paragraph I want to highlight, especially right before the spring seasons start.

If your switch is off more than on, it’s time to examine what’s making you less than motivated. Is it the job itself? Find something to love about it, or find a different line of work. Is it the fear of failure? Then you haven’t been paying attention: Failure is an opportunity to learn and improve—and boost your enthusiasm. Are you bored? Burned out? Ready for a different challenge? Jump at the chance to try something new. Life’s too short to hate what you are doing! Find something you can be passionate about, and work at it until you can’t imagine doing anything else.

Those of you who are regular readers will know I perked up on the line about "fear of failure".  "Failure is an opportunity to learn and improve — and boost your enthusiasm".

I love that line.  Especially how he added "– and boost your enthusiasm."  Failure naturally drains enthusiasm, not boost it.  That’s because nobody likes to fail, nobody sets out to screw up a business deal — or a relay throw from the outfield.  But it happens and, as coaches, we need to help kids understand how to deal with that failure.

The first place to start is with our response to the failure; accept the mistake for what it is — proof you are still needed!  From that perspective you can help the kids to take advantage of the "opportunity to learn and improve" so they — and you — can feel the boost of enthusiasm.