For years, I sat in the producer chair as an entire team of people helped make sure a newscast made it on the air without a hitch. The best days for me were usually when everyone else on the team was in a good mood. Meanwhile, my worst days were when I could sense the tiniest bit of tension or negativity in a room. That’s because I tend to feed off of the energy of the people around me.
If you were to look up the meaning of “energy,” you would see at least one definition referring to it as power. And power has the ability to influence, meaning energy can do the same.
Even though my main job nowadays is to manage my home, I want to do everything I can to make sure the energy there remains positive.
That being said, I was really excited when my sister-in-law told me about Jon Gordon’s book called The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy.
In the book, Gordon shares his insights and strategies by telling the story of George, a man whose home life and work life are falling apart. That is, until he is forced to take the bus to work and meets the unique woman behind the wheel.
Gordon uses George as an “everyman” that we can all identify with. He complains. He gets angry. He can be stubborn. He can be selfish. He can be skeptical. At the same time, he knows how disheartening it is when you think you have it together and it all starts to unravel; and he wants things to change. George ends up riding that bus for two weeks, getting to know an interesting group of characters, and learning the ten things he needs to do to turn his life around.
The journey is so inspiring it makes you feel like you have the ability to turn your own life around. And I imagine that was Gordon’s hope — because there’s an action plan to follow in the back of the book.
According to the book’s official summary, the ten rules can help you approach life and work “with the kind of positive, forward thinking that leads to true accomplishment – at work and at home.”
The introduction mentions how everyone “will have to overcome negativity, adversity, and challenges to define themselves and create success. No one goes through life untested and the answer to these tests is positive energy.”
Gordon knows all about leadership and the power of positive energy because he’s spent years working with proven leaders, sales professionals, teams, non-profit organizations, schools, and athletes. And he uses The Energy Bus to offer the wealth of knowledge he’s gained in a way that is both simple and creative.
I think The Energy Bus is a great book with information we can all use, even parents like me working to manage their homes. In fact, there’s already a kids version I may use for those future teachable moments on negativity.
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Linking up with Kristen at We Are THAT Family for Works for me Wednesday
