Youth ACHIEVEMENT FOUNDATION

CHARACTER TALK

Enthusiasm

• Introduction and Definition

• Enthusiasm: eagerness to take on a project
• Objective: Students should be able to explain why enthusiasm will help them to be better students.

• Notes for Mentor-Student discussion

• All good things require work
• Everybody like to be successful, and the bigger the success the greater the satisfaction.
• This is why we should want to take on challenging tasks.
   
• Enthusiasm, like Cheerfulness, is an attitude. While we cannot always control our circumstances we can control our attitude.
• Enthusiasm, the desire to take on challenging projects, not only makes us happy and our job rewarding, but it inspires others to do the same.
• Life is full of difficult tasks that are not going to go away. We can either run from them, which will make the situation worse; or we can do them grudgingly and with a bad attitude, which will likely make us do a poor job and deprive us of any satisfactions; or we can make the best of it by seeing it as a challenge. If we do this we will more than likely succeed and be happy, but even if we do not, we will have know we did our best, which is always satisfying.
• Can either the mentor or student give an example of how enthusiasm helped them to accomplish

• Notes for general group discussion

• What does it mean to be enthusiastic?
• How might one demonstrate enthusiasm in:
• School work
• Sports
• Doing chores around the house

• Summary points

• Enthusiasm is not only the willingness but the desire to take on challenges. Those who possess it have a big advantage over those who do not, but because it is an “attitude” no one can force us to take it.
• Take away line: Be enthusiastic and you will accomplish many things!