Being Enthusiastic is Worth 25 IQ Points
Kevin Kelly published “Excellent Advice for Living” with bullet points of advice for his kids on living well.
One point was:
Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points
I immediately fell in love with it.
The idea that enthusiasm is difficult to achieve, valuable in its own right, and has a direct relationship to intelligence, deeply resonates.
Enthusiasm is hard to achieve organically
Most of what we hear or see isn’t going to naturally engage us.
That’s because we all have a narrow set of interests.
Consider everything there is to know and do in the world. There are so many subjects to explore and each are deep and complex. Relative to all possible interests, each person has an incredibly narrow set of “stuff” that matters to them personally.
Which means the vast majority of what other people talk about is going to fall outside your immediate circle of interest.
And you’re not going to feel naturally “engaged.”
You might feel somewhere between disengaged and bored to judgemental, and neither are close to enthusiasm.
Energy is valuable
Because genuine enthusiasm is difficult to achieve, most people don’t receive it often.
At least, not from outside their friends and family.
And that’s a shame because enthusiasm makes people feel good. It makes them feel validated, listened to, and understood. It makes them like the person who gives them a boost.
The enthusiasm gap leaves a huge opportunity.
People who can bring enthusiasm, engagement, and openness to ideas, even when they don’t naturally “care” about a topic, or even harder, when they disagree with point of view at hand, have a lot to gain.
They can learn new things, build connections, and influence others much more easily than other people.
Kind people are the most intelligent
Kindness is the not the same as enthusiasm, but it is a prerequisite. You can be kind without enthusiasm, but you can’t be enthusiastic without being kind.
Being kind means quelling the part of our ancient “monkey” brain that wants to compete, fight, and win against other people.
We all have animal instincts that encourage us to search for pleasure, push away pain, and disdains being bored.
But we evolved the ability to ignore those instincts for the good of the group.
People who have honed this more advanced muscle can put aside all their bored, discontent, and judgemental feelings and bring out a different energy — a positive energy — in themselves.
This is an evolved skill.
If you can bring that to the table, you’ve contributed massively.
Enthusiasm for the win
I often come across excitedly to other people.
Sometimes I wonder how this sits — if my excitement is perceived negatively at times.
After thinking on this, of course, I know there are times when a calmer, reflective environment is warranted.
But enthusiasm is energy. It’s a sign of life. It’s an accelerant to ideas.
Just as intelligence is.
And Kevin’s quantification is an excellent reminder of its value: 25 IQ points.
A good reason to keep the energy coming.
