How to get excited

How to Get Excited About the Future

Spending hours, days or sometimes years stressing about the future is no fun! Having the right mindset will make you feel excited about the future.

Tiny Buddha draws our attention to the fact that if we worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, we will ignore what really matters now.

Our inability to see life as an infinite pie results in ‘scarcity mentality’.

How To Get Excited For the Future

A scarcity mentality will keep many people from achieving their goals and dreams. Having an abundance mind-set means that you believe that there is plenty out there for everyone.

Do not let the memories of your past limit the potential of your future. There are no limits to what you can achieve on your journey through life, except in your mind.

Lately, I have been working on looking forward to the future with excitement and an abundance mind-set.

In this article, I will share my best strategies on how to get excited for the future and feel positive about the future.

How do you feel positive about the future?

Shift your focus on abundance and not scarcity

When you focus on scarcity, you will always find imperfection in things.

I have realised that when I focus on abundance and gratitude, my perspective improves. I am able to imagine positive vibrations entering my future.

The mind is everything, what you think you become. Once you positively gain control over your mindset, thoughts and thinking, you can definitely control your future and can get excited about it.

Get Clear

When you do not know what you want the future to look like, it becomes hard to get excited and look forward to the future with optimism.

During my morning routine, I have been spending some time thinking about how I would like my future to look and feel like.

Don’t spend over 5 – 10 minutes on this. Jot down the first things that come to mind. This will help bring you some clarity on your future.

These journaling exercises have really helped me figure out where I want to go, and now I feel inspired to take action to achieve some things I write about.

Believe in yourself

If you have been thinking about a career change and haven’t done it yet, you are probably thinking

These are all thoughts based on scarcity mind-set which limits you.

Scarcity mind-set will limit your opportunities and hinder your progress. Assuming you pursued that training 3 years ago, you would have been qualified by now and you would have felt happier.

Over the years, I have realised that when you think of something productive; you go for it, if not, you live to regret it.

Do not lurch in self-pity

You will not feel upbeat every day and I get that. However, you can always turn the days that you feel low into a positive experience.

An abundance mentality only sees opportunities!

For example, if you’ve just been laid off, instead of lurching in self-pity, think about how great it is to finally have the time (and the redundancy package if you received one) to think about what you REALLY want to do with the rest of your life.

Dream big

Anxiety and a lack of self–esteem will cripple your thoughts and belief in yourself.

With a scarcity mentality, your brain will always trick you to play small, and this will make you feel irrelevant.

You may hear voices in your head saying

Thinking these thoughts repeatedly will make your brain hesitant to believe that you can achieve greater things in life.

I must admit that I had the same feeling prior to starting this blog. I felt inadequate and thought who will be interested in reading what I have to say to anyone.

However, I believed in myself for a moment and since then I feel overwhelmed each day seeing how many people visit my website and the inspiring comments I receive.

Dreaming big has made me more excited about the future and has inspired me to go after bigger goals.

To shake myself out of the habit of dreaming small I have been regularly journaling about questions like these:

Visualise your future

I find inspiration from what others have achieved in life, magazines and real-life stories!

This makes me understand what is possible in life.

Faith from radical transformation recommends creating a digital dream board on Pinterest and regularly adding images to it. Faith keeps her dream board private, so she doesn’t have to worry about people judging what she is pinning.

I have adopted this same approach and realise that it allows me the freedom to pin anything I feel inspired by. I have pinned information on inspiration quotes, home designs and health and fitness.

I imagine myself in those images and living the dream daily.

This helps me shift my focus from scarcity to abundance and makes me look towards the future with optimism.

You can check out my Pinterest account for inspiration quotes and other relevant pins which will inspire your own digital board.

Below are some of my favourite quotes about the future Quotes on future

Before You Go,

To get excited about the future, you first have to believe that there is a future. Nurture your own dreams and be inspired by people around you.

Finally, focus on abundance, not scarcity by shifting your mindset and ultimately practicing self-love.

How To Get Excited For the Future

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How to Get Excited About Topics That Bore You

A four-step process.

The ability to develop new skills – and new passions — is particularly important in today’s fast-paced business climate. But what if you don’t like the subject matter you need to learn? Rest assured that it is possible to learn to like — and even love — subject areas that seem boring, or that you once loathed. The first step in building passion for a subject you don’t like is to identify a reason to learn it. One of the best motivators is making an improvement in your life. Wanting a lifestyle upgrade allows you to make a mental contrast between where you are now (say, an office assistant) and where you want to be (perhaps a certified public accountant). Know that it’s perfectly normal to not understand new subject material on your first try. It takes time and practice for your brain to develop new neural patterns, which are “chunks” of learning. The bigger your collection of solidly constructed neural chunks related to solving different problems, the better your expertise. And the better your expertise, the more you will like what you’re learning.

A four-step process.

I used to be the prototypical young mathphobe: I flunked or barely passed any math course I was forced to orbit. For me, graduating from high school was thrilling in that I would never have to touch a math or science book again. Math not only didn’t make sense but was also worthless and painfully frustrating; the same went for technology.

The young version of me would have been shocked to learn that I would eventually become a professor of engineering, enchanted with mathematics and comfortable in the world of technology. As I’ve discovered from both personal experience and research, it is possible to learn to like — even to grow to love — subject areas that look boring or that you once loathed. In today’s fast-changing business environment, the ability to develop new passions is particularly important. Here’s how to do it.

Find a seed of motivation. The first step in building passion for a subject you don’t like is to identify a reason to learn it. One of the best motivators is wishing to make an improvement in your life. Wanting a lifestyle upgrade allows you to make a mental contrast between where you are now (say, in a job as an office assistant) and where you want to be (say, a certified public accountant).

For me, the mental contrast between where I had been, the lowest enlisted rank in the army, and the many civilian career options I dreamed of provided a powerful boost. That’s how, at age 26, I found myself restudying remedial high school mathematics in an implausible attempt to become an engineer.

Overcome the pain in the brain. When we even think about something we don’t like or want, it can activate a portion of the brain — the bilateral dorsal posterior insula — that is involved in our experience of pain. This means, for example, that thinking about math if you don’t like math (or studying English if you don’t like English) can actually feel physically painful. The result can be that your brain diverts your attention away from whatever sparked the pain. In other words, you procrastinate.

One of the best ways to overcome procrastination is the Pomodoro technique, a diabolically clever approach developed by Francesco Cirillo. In this technique, you:

For me, it was a pity that I didn’t know about the Pomodoro technique when I was retraining my brain. Those little breaks help the brain consolidate material, which would have allowed me to build my understanding while minimizing frustration. Speaking of frustration…

Realize it’s perfectly normal to not understand something on your first try. People often don’t realize that the brain has two quite different ways of experiencing the world. The first one occurs while focusing on a topic, which activates what psychologists call task-positive networks. The second way occurs when we’re not focusing on anything in particular. Not focusing involves the default mode network and other resting state networks — a diffuse rather than focused mode of thinking.

Most people need to go back and forth between focused and diffuse modes in order to learn a topic. When you can’t solve something in the first focus, you’re not stupid — you just need to allow time to toggle to the diffuse mode. This second mode gives your brain a chance to consolidate and consider the material from a different perspective.

6 Ways to Find More Exciting Experiences

About ten years ago, I found myself doing something I thought I would never do. I hopped on a plane and flew half way around the world so I could travel with a friend throughout Southeast Asia. It was one of the most exciting and life-changing experiences of my life.

The thing I love the most about exciting experiences is the feeling of being alive. Knowing that you’re doing something crazy can be just so exhilarating. That’s why I’ve made having exciting experiences a priority. However, I know that sometimes it can seem as if excitement doesn’t happen as often as it should. Fortunately there are some things you can do to get more.

1. Be open to excitement

Just being open to exciting experiences can make a huge positive difference. For example one Saturday night a few years ago I got a call from a friend asking me if I wanted to go to a wrestling match in a rural town nearby. We only had a vague idea of where the town was, but I didn’t care because it sounded exciting.

I got three friends to come along, but a large group of others refused to go. Those of us who went eventually found the place out in the middle of nowhere. We had some beers, got our photos taken in the ring and even partied awhile with the wrestlers after the match. It was a night I’ll never forget. Those that didn’t go had a forgetful night re-watching a movie.

Don’t pass up on those adventurous opportunities when they come your way.

2. Always be actively searching for exciting experiences

It isn’t likely that you’ll find an exciting experience by sitting on the couch. You have to go out and make it happen. That means making less time for TV watching and more time for real world interaction.

But even going out into the real world isn’t good enough. It’s all about how you interact with it. Be a person who takes action, does things and takes risks. Make plans to travel, go on a roadtrip or talk to a stranger. You never know what might happen if you just put yourself out there.

3. Make having exciting experiences routine

I like to think of excitement as a habit more than anything else. It seems that the more you do it, the easier it will be for you to get it in the future. It’s as if their exciting experiences draw in other exciting experiences.

I think it has a lot to do with the fact that someone who can get excitement knows where to find it. They have the confidence, know-how or social connections that just make it easier to find. It might be hard to get going, but it isn’t as hard to maintain the momentum.

4. Get enthusiastic about yourself and your life

Having the right attitude can really help you find exciting experiences. Exciting people have an enthusiasm and energy about them that is just infectious. That kind of attitude will spread to everyone around you and eventually something fun will happen.

This attitude works so well because you’re showing the world just what you expect out of it. It also attracts similarly minded people and situations. Show the world that you’re thrilled to be in it and you’ll find excitement much easier to find.

5. Find a passion

You can’t underestimate the power passion has in bringing excitement into your life. When you find something you can put all your energy into, you naturally get excited about it. It’s not a coincidence that the feelings you get for excitement and the ones you get for something you’re passionate about are so similar.

Get involved in something that drives you. Is there something you think about trying or something you love doing? Really put yourself into that pursuit and turn it into a passion. You’ll naturally find excitement from it.

6. Face your fears and leave comfort behind

When you think about excitement, you might think of activities like mountain climbing or bungee jumping. If those activities have any one thing in common it is that they are all scary and require some risk taking. That’s not all that surprising if you consider that fear and risk are both big factors in what makes something exciting.

So if you want more exciting experiences, you have to take risks or face down fear. And you don’t necessarily have to do something dangerous. Sometimes something simple like going up and talking to someone new can be really scary, but also exciting.

Put More Excitement Into Your Life

It’s never too late to try and get a little more excitement into your life. No matter how dull things have become, there is always room for change. No rut is big enough to stop you if you really want to make things better.

Getting more exciting experiences starts with turning around those dull moments. It might not happen as quickly as you want, but at least there are some things you can do to get that great feeling of being alive back. And that can be an exciting thought.

What’s the last big exciting experience you’ve had? Do you know of any other ways to get more excitement?

How to Get a Customer Excited

Customers get excited when you show them something to get excited about.

Sales messages always consist of a claim or a series of claims that you’re making about yourself, your firm or your product.

For a sales claim to be effective, the customer must believe it, remember it, and want to take action based on it. Therefore, every sales claim must pass three hurdles:

Why ‘Exciting’ Isn’t Exciting

In my recent post, 8 Words to Avoid When Selling, I pointed out that the word «exciting» wasn’t itself exciting. That’s because most companies use the word «exciting» in their sales claims like so:

Let’s run the claim through the criteria stated above:

Making It Credible

To excite a customer, a sales claim must be credible. The easiest way to add credibility is to attribute the caim to somebody whom the customer already trusts or respects. For example:

Let’s run the two claims above through the three hurdles.

Making It Meaningful

The next step is to make the message meaningful, so that it’s relevant enough to the customer so that the customer might take action. Two examples again:

Let’s go through the hurdles:

Making It Memorable

To make a sales claim memorable, you must add emotion to the equation. Emotion comes not from adjectives (like «exciting» or «innovative») nor from financial figures, but from real events involving real people facing real challenges. Two examples again:

The hurdles once again:

Please note I am NOT suggesting that EVERY sales claim be formed in the manner above. However, if you want «excite» a customer with a sales claim, it must pass all three hurdles. If it doesn’t, it’s not helping you sell.

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The Psychology of Excitement: How to Better Engage Your Audience

Understanding psychology is a crucial part of being a successful marketer. What I’ve discovered is that the most powerful advances in content marketing don’t come from “hacks,” “tricks,” or “techniques,” but from science-backed psychology.

One of the most powerful and interesting areas of psychology deals with excitement. How can content marketers get people more excited? How can we raise their level of emotional engagement to bring about content engagement? Is there any way that we can get more comments, more shares, more likes, and more of the content marketing KPIs that we crave?

The answer is yes, and the psychology of excitement shows us how.

How Does Excitement Work?

To understand how excitement affects marketing, we need first to understand how excitement works. Here are some of the key features of excitement.

Excitement is mental, but it affects the whole body.

Excitement begins in the brain just like any other emotion. Emotions, however, have strong physiological responses.

Many people are familiar with the experience of stomach sensations (“butterflies in the stomach”), trembling, weakness, and sweaty palms in response to a state of fear or excitement. These are the body’s complex responses to a mental condition.

Excitement is a condition of physiological arousal. ChangingMinds.org explains what happens when we are aroused in this way:

Arousal typically happens when the body releases chemicals into the brain that act to stimulate emotions, reduce cortical functioning and hence conscious control, and create physical agitation and ‘readiness for action.’ The endocrine system stimulates various glands, in particular adrenaline, which increases oxygen and glucose flow, dilates the pupils (so you can see better), and suppresses non-urgent systems such as digestion and the immune system. Arousal is spread through the Sympathetic Nervous System, with effects such as increasing the heart rate and breathing to enable physical action and perspiration to cool the body.

Excitement is temporary.

How long? It all depends on the level of excitement. An article in the Wall Street Journal suggests that it takes 20 minutes for the power of excitement to pass.

Excitement makes people more likely to act.

When the body is excited, it provides the perfect conditions for marketing to have its effect. Excitement of any kind is a state of arousal. Arousal means that the heart rate increases, the sympathetic nervous system increases activity, and the brain begins to signal the increased production of hormones.

In “The Psychology of Social Shopping,” Paloma Vasquez makes this point:

In a state of excitement or arousal, people think and behave very differently. Emotional states trump rational thinking; it’s easier to sell to consumers when they are excited.

This can be a good thing. As marketers, we usually want people to act, not overthink. We realize that quick decision-making can be important to moving someone through the buyer’s journey.

What Can Help Create Excitement?

With a basic understand of how emotion works, we can begin to discover how content can create excitement. Here are the broad categories of excitement-inducing content.

Strong Emotion

There is wide consensus on this point: Users are excited by with emotional content. They engage with it passionately, intensely, and automatically.

People are emotional creatures. We decide and take action (including buying decisions) based largely on emotions. So, if your marketing content tries to reach your audience only through a rational approach, there’s a good chance it will fall flat.

Users will respond to content that affects them on an emotional level. Emotion is part of decision-making and action. What kind of action? Social sharing is the most obvious action.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania conducted a study to answer the question “What Makes Online Content Viral?” Their study quickly brought them to this conclusion:

Virality is partially driven by physiological arousal. Content that evokes high-arousal positive (awe) or negative (anger or anxiety) emotions is more viral. Content that evokes low-arousal, or deactivating, emotions (e.g., sadness) is less viral.

Simply put, if you want to create shareable, viral content, then make it appeal to people’s emotions.

Progress

Psychologists have long understood that making progress is one of the most important features in an individual’s satisfaction and wellbeing. The Harvard Business Review explains:

The progress principle applies to the microcosm of content, too. JeremySaid.com explains, “One of the best ways to motivate behavior is to create a sense of progress. If a user can win new levels of rewards, they are much more likely to make an attempt to do so.” This is the principle that creates excitement over the Starbucks loyalty program:

When it comes down to content, the user wants to both understand and feel a sense of progress. On Slate’s sidebar, they tell users how long it will take to read an article, thus suggesting progress, presumably to encourage engagement.

Strong Design Features

To see what I mean, look at Coca-Cola’s blog below. Their strong use of red in their Tumblr design helps spark excitement and drive more engagement and interaction with the content.

Price

Impulse shoppers act on the basis of excitement. One of the driving forces of impulse is the product’s price, according to the Wall Street Journal. You can keep your prices low, or use the price anchoring effect to make it seem low. Either way, you can generate excitement because of the low price.

When a customer gets a great price, they are more likely to share it with others. The reason, explains Robert Schindler in Advances in Consumer Research, is because they’re proud of it. A good deal sparks the “ego-expressive” response, making the customer “feel responsible for the discount.”

To capitalize on this excitement response, you can use sharing icons at appropriate points throughout a conversion process. For example, Amazon prompts customers to share their purchases on social media. The reason people are likely to do so is because of the state of excitement that they experienced after making a purchase.

Limited Products

To a lesser extent, the product itself can create excitement. Mark Macdonald’s article on Shopify explains that products themselves can generate excitement and eagerness to buy, especially when they are “seasonal or limited products.”

For example, every March when my friend gets her green Shamrock Shake from McDonalds, she crows with happiness all over the social media.

Conclusion

To improve engagement with your content, it’s not enough to simply produce information and hope it gets action. You have to create a strategy that activates users emotionally. Once you lay the intellectual foundation with content, then you can go on to activate their emotions through empathy.

As you interact with content on the web, identify what features make you excited. These are the same features that will prompt excitement in your users. Exciting content is the path to engagement.

What do you do to create exciting content?

Originally published Mar 17, 2015 8:00:00 AM, updated April 15 2021