ENTICEMENT: THE ROAD TO BECOMING EASILY IMPRESSED – SATURDAY SAGE

A person who is hard to impress misses life’s great experiences.  A person who is easily impressed notices things that a guarded person never sees.   

If you believe being hard to impress is the same as having high standards, that’s just wrong. Way wrong!

The road to becoming easily impressed:

Every good experience begins with enticement.

The things you enjoy began when you were enticed to have an interest in something. The sports you chose as a child, where you went to college, your hobbies, the important people who are a part of your life and the job you have today all began with enticement.

Creativity and curiosity bring learning to life. 

Enticement is the bait.  

An enticer’s radar is fixed on being easily impressed.

Fears of being easily impressed:

Trying to impress people backfires every time!

The hard core “tuffies” think if you are easily impressed it’s an indication of weakness with no backbone. 

People who are hard to impress spend too much time trying to impress others. The older we get the less we are willing to act like a child or to be playful. 

The “tuffies” are afraid of being naïve or getting caught in the act of being playful. Being easily impressed is not an indication that you are easily swayed or gullible. It’s simply a skill to develop to initiate new interest, enthusiasm, attitude or even a smile.

Being easily impressed works best when others are the motivation. BTW – If you fall into the category of a “tuffie”, lighten up!

The enticement formula:

Enticement → Easily Impressed → New attitude → Hope → Action → Good times

6 benefits of being easily impressed:

1. Trust happens.
2. Engagement is real.
3. Interest is ignited.
4. Fears fade.
5. You get a front row seat when observing a fresh start.
6. You feel things that a guarded person never experiences.

6 ways to be easily impressed:

1. Notice the interests of others.
2. Watch when your people experience energy boosts.
3. Listen and enjoy what the others enjoy.
4. Guide conversations toward energizing others.
5. Demonstrate an open heart by acknowledging new discoveries.
6. Unlock new thought by interviewing unusual people.

Examples of being easily impressed:

Enticing a kid:

Play catch with a little kid for the first time.  

Look through a telescope.

Let a 10 year old take the wheel.

Enticing a teenager:

Interview an emergency room doctor.

Watch the stars thru the telescope.

Drive a John Deere out in the field.

Enticing a young adults:

Go backstage and talk to the drummer.

Take a boxing lesson.

Learn to shoot a bow.

Enticing a senior:

Talk to a freshman about your freshman year.

Record someone talking about their career.

Explain why you choose not to go to college to a teenager.

Homework:

Commit to have an easily impressed conversation 5 days in a row.

Listen with a smile on your face.

Listen for something that surprises you. Say, “That’s interesting, tell me more.”

Write a handwritten thank you to that person, in appreciation of what impressed you.

Develop a list of people you might interview next.

Get up off your butt right now and go tell a team member or a family member how they have impressed you.  Get specific.

Practice not being a “tuffie.”

Bonus benefits of being easily impressed:

Find joy in serving others by igniting their imagination.

Become a disrupter of the status quo.  

Expect invitations into problem solving conversations.

How can you practice being easily impressed this week?

Still curious:

15 Ways to Help Without Getting in the Way

This post is a collaboration between Dan Rockwell and Stan Endicott.

Note: I relax my 300 word limit on the weekends.