The Positive Energy Approach

Energy is life. So what gives you positive energy? How can you do more of these things in the future? Doing these can help to recharge your batteries. They can also give you more strength to give to other people.

People who take this approach often feel more alive and creative. Some translate this into doing positive projects. They may also encourage other people to do things that give them positive energy. This approach is related to the idea that:

What you focus on you become.

If you focus on positive things, you are more likely to feel positive. If you focus on possible solutions, you are more likely to feel optimistic. If you focus on negative things – without exploring solutions – you are more likely to feel negative.

There are many ways to follow the positive energy approach. The following section looks at some you can follow in your own way.

You Can Do The Things
That Give You Positive Energy

What are the things that give you positive energy? Here are some answers that people give when exploring these themes.

Personal Life

The specific things that give me
positive energy in my personal life are:

Being with our children … Writing … Looking after our garden … Listening to the sound of falling water … Singing in the choir … Taking walks by myself … Spending time with my partner … Being with positive people … Feeling I have a sense of purpose … Following my principles.

Professional Life

The specific things that give me
positive energy in my professional life are:

Encouraging people … Caring for animals … Designing things … Playing to my strengths … Doing stimulating projects … Working with certain kinds of customers … Being a trusted advisor … Building successful prototypes … Leading pioneering teams … Helping people to achieve success.

This is an exercise that I used on workshops for individuals and groups. Each person wrote their lists on flip charts. They then formed pairs and shared what they had written. This set a positive tone for the sessions.

The exercise provided valuable information about the kinds of work that individuals found satisfying. Sometimes we were able to translate these into doing work that helped their colleagues or clients to achieve success.

Later we will look at an exercise regarding how you can do more of the things that give you positive energy. Before then, it can also be useful to explore the following theme.

You Can Encourage Other People To Do
The Things That Give Them Positive Energy

If appropriate, you can use this approach in your personal or professional life. You can use it with individuals, teams and even with organisations.

One approach is to encourage individuals to do things that give them positive energy. This could be your child, partner, friend, work colleague or another person. Again, only use it if you feel it may be appropriate.

Some people use the approach in their professional life. They may be working as a counsellor, teacher, therapist, coach, mentor, trusted advisor or in another professional role. They may be helping either:

A young person who has difficulty at school … A person who feels depressed … A person who wants to regain a sense of purpose.

A person who wants to build on their strengths … A person who wants to do satisfying work … A person who want to make a positive contribution during their time on the planet.

A team that wants to build on its strengths, do superb work and help its stakeholders to achieve success … An organisation that wants to build successful prototypes that help to shape a positive future.

This approach may seem simple but it often works. It helps people to feel more alive and improve their wellbeing. It can also help them to maintain a positive attitude, do positive work and get positive results.

Let’s return to your own life and work. If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.

First, to describe the things that give you positive energy in your personal and professional life. Second, to describe how you can do more of these things in the future. Third, to describe the benefits of doing these things.

Here is the exercise. It invites you to complete the following sentences.