Issue 709 - "The Enthusiasm Multiplier for 2025"


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 13	Issue 709
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"THE ENTHUSIASM MULTIPLIER FOR 2025" John Wooden Video Clip (1 min. 40 sec.): Coach Wooden is asked: "Do you think anyone will ever come close to your winning streak?" If you sat with John Wooden in a conversation, whether it was one-on-one or with multiple people, his sincere interest and great listening skills always added enthusiasm to the conversation. There are three different ways in which improper use of a cell phone can decrease enthusiasm in a conversation: Number 1: Two people are talking about a topic. A third person, although not verbally or actively engaged — takes out their cell phone and starts looking things up. Number 2: I never heard John Wooden correct anybody in a conversation. Correcting another person’s statement when the correction won’t result in a constructive outcome is an unnecessary enthusiasm diminisher. The improper use of cell phones accelerates this bad habit. This happens when a third person looks for information on their cell phone and then advises the group why the person speaking was wrong. Number 3: Don’t be a SMEOE (Subject Matter Expert On Everything). Before cell phones, this was simply that person who, in any conversation, would always have to go one-up on the person speaking. If the speaker said they had gone to New York, the SMEOE talks about their three-week vacation in Europe. With the addition of cell phones this bad habit potentially becomes even more of an issue. Now the SMEOE not only quickly goes one-up, but they also look up information on their cell phone to enhance their position. Now the SMEOE looks up the details of the island in Greece they visited and reads about it out loud to everybody from their cell phone. People that diminish enthusiasm in conversations are enthusiasm diminishers. The third person who sits quietly and attentively in a conversation (like John Wooden) with their cell phone remaining in their pocket and out of sight — and then thoughtfully asks the speaker a good question so the speaker can expand on their perspective, is an enthusiasm multiplier. Are you an enthusiasm diminisher or a multiplier? Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 709. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 709. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE Looking Back I might have been rich if I'd wanted the gold instead of the friendships I've made. I might have had fame if I'd sought for renown in the hours when I purposely played. Now I'm standing to-day on the far edge of life, and I'm just looking backward to see What I've done with the years and the days that were mine, and all that has happened to me. I haven't built much of a fortune to leave to those who shall carry my name, And nothing I've done shall entitle me now to a place on the tablets of fame. But I've loved the great sky and its spaces of blue; I've lived with the birds and the trees; I've turned from the splendor of silver and gold to share in such pleasures as these. I've given my time to the children who came; together we've romped and we've played, And I wouldn't exchange the glad hours spent with them for the money that I might have made. I chose to be known and be loved by the few, and was deaf to the plaudits of men; And I'd make the same choice should the chance come to me to live my life over again. I've lived with my friends and I've shared in their joys, known sorrow with all of its tears; I have harvested much from my acres of life, though some say I've squandered my years. For much that is fine has been mine to enjoy, and I think I have lived to my best, And I have no regret, as I'm nearing the end, for the gold that I might have possessed. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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