PDF Summary:The Energy Bus, by Jon Gordon
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At times, most of us have felt unmotivated, discouraged, and as though things were falling apart. In this short parable, The Energy Bus, author and motivational speaker Jon Gordon explains how to turn things around when this happens. The allegory about a middle manager hitting rock bottom takes place on a bus, where the driver and passengers share with him 10 rules for reenergizing his life through positive thinking. Practicing these simple principles can help you build successful teams at work and improve your relationships. Like the story’s main character, George, you can learn to enjoy life’s ride.
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5) Don’t waste effort on those who don’t want to join you
Don’t waste energy worrying about people who don’t share your vision or on trying to change their minds. There will always be people who don’t want to ride your bus, or be part of your team. Don’t take it personally—maybe another bus would be a better fit for them, or they’d be a disruptive presence on your bus anyway.
6) Ban “energy vampires”
The people you surround yourself with have a big impact on whether you succeed. Some people increase your energy and your team’s energy, and some people sap it. The latter are energy vampires, who will suck the life out of you and your projects if you allow them to. They’ll make everyone else miserable and even sabotage your bus.
You need to eliminate any negativity—including negative people—standing between you/your team and your goals. That means refusing to tolerate negativity: make clear to everyone where you’re going, that you need a positive team, and that anyone who’s negative is off the project. If the naysayers don’t change, kick them off your team.
7) Be enthusiastic: it attracts and energizes others
You need to project energy in order to succeed personally and professionally. Without it, you can’t inspire or lead others. Successful people are CEOs, or chief energy officers. They exude positive energy, optimism, and excitement about their lives and work. They aren’t discouraged by challenges, but welcome them as opportunities to grow.
Enthusiasm comes from the Greek word entheos, which means inspired or filled with the divine. When you bring this level of inspired energy to everything you do, others feel it and want to be on your team.
8) Show you care about your team
To inspire others, you also need to become a “love magnet” by demonstrating caring and commitment to your family, company, employees, and customers. While it sounds trite, the truth is that what everyone wants most is to be loved. Your employees want your love too. You can give them awards, gifts, and raises, but these are soon forgotten. What sticks with them is a sense of whether you really care about them and are committed to their future. When they know you care about them, they respond in kind by being loyal and doing great work. In contrast, if you treat them as just a means to your next promotion, you’ll get cynicism in return.
9) Have a larger purpose
Purpose is the most important fuel additive for your journey. Knowing your purpose keeps you energized and focused and prevents burnout. For instance, Joy saw herself not only as a bus driver, but also as a life coach, helping people find their energy and change their lives. This gave her a sense of purpose that inspired her and her passengers. Purpose infuses your everyday life with passion.
10) Enjoy your ride
Since we have only one life, we should enjoy it. Often, people spend their lives stressing over small or unimportant things—for instance, emails, deadlines, arguments, and trivial inconveniences—and overlook the beauty around them. But on the day you die, you’ll still have a pile of unopened emails. So don’t worry about such small things—focus instead on finding joy in each moment. Live each day with purpose and joy.
George Turns Things Around
To begin generating his own positive energy, George began “feeding the positive dog.” The “positive dog” metaphor came from a story that Joy shared of a man who felt pulled in two directions. It was as if there were two dogs inside him battling for dominance: a positive, kind, gentle dog and a negative, angry, mean dog. The man asked the village elder which dog would win. The elder replied, “the one you feed, so feed the positive dog.”
George fed his positive dog by listing what he was grateful for each day and reminding himself of his biggest success of the day before falling asleep, rather than obsessing about the things that had gone wrong.
To pull his team members together and get them moving in the same direction, he met with each person, shared his vision and expectations, and invited them to get on the bus. He handed out bus tickets from the Energy Bus website and asked each team member who wanted to join him to hand in their tickets once they’d decided.
Three team members refused to join and two others, who were problem employees, joined the team but tried to sabotage it. So George met again with each of these people. He realized the two troublemakers were energy vampires, so he gave them an ultimatum to be positive or to leave. One quit and he fired the other. Of the three who refused to join, one quit and the other two later relented.
After eliminating his energy vampires, George demonstrated caring for his team, particularly for a hardworking member, José, who’d become discouraged because George had never expressed appreciation for his efforts. José was one of the three who initially declined to join the team; he changed his mind when George sincerely apologized for taking him for granted.
Next, George worked with the team to formulate a larger purpose beyond successfully introducing the company’s new lightbulb. They decided their purpose was to bring warmth and brighten people’s lives. Motivated with new passion, George’s team achieved one of the most successful new product launches in the company’s history. They were even more enthusiastic about their potential for achieving more great things in the future. George kept his job and shared with his bosses the secret of spreading positivity.
George’s wife told him she’d noticed a big difference in him—for instance, she said that he complained less, showed his love by spending more time with the family, and was positive and enthusiastic. She felt she’d regained the man she’d married and their marriage was back on track. He resolved that, going forward, he would try to live each day with purpose and joy.
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