JEAN-PHILIPPE COURTOIS: All of us have things going on in our lives that can bring us down and drain our energy. There’s pressure, and there’s sadness, too. But if we want to create innovative environments and rally people to achieve more, we need to be positive, energizing leaders.
Positive energizing leaders lift up the people around them, when things are difficult, and when they are going well. So how do you generate the positive energy you need to unlock the best version of yourself?
Life is a manifestation of where we invest our energy: We need to invest it wisely.
DANDAPANI: Because at some point tonight you're going to be exhausted. You're going to say, that's it, I'm tired. I'm going to go to bed.
JEAN-PHILIPPE COURTOIS: Dandapani is a Hindu priest and master of meditation. In order for us to channel our time and energy towards achieving our goals, he says that we need to learn how to control our awareness - our focus. That ball of light, each of us has in our mind.
DANDAPANI: I can choose where my ball of light goes in my mind, or I can allow my environment, people and things around me to control where my awareness goes.
JEAN-PHILIPPE COURTOIS: Thinking positive is an active choice. It is the decision you make to focus on the possibility of good results and look for the goodness in any situation or person. The best way to learn how to focus, is to do one thing at a time. Chose a non-negotiable recurring event in your day and use it to practice every day.
DANDAPANI: I speak with my daughter. It's non-negotiable and it reoccurs. I can't go up to my daughter and say, I'm not talking to you anymore. It doesn't work. Every time I speak with her, I keep my ball of light on her. It drifts away. I bring it back. It drifts away. I bring it back to her and say I'm going to stay focused on her.
JEAN-PHILIPPE COURTOIS: Creating positive energy is all about your state of mind. It often starts with self-talk. The endless stream of unspoken thoughts that runs through our head. We all have moments when our self-talk is more negative than positive. So how do you help keep those negative voices quiet?
MICHAEL BUNGAY STANIER: The first is just to be aware that that voice in your head actually isn't the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It is just the voice in your head.
JEAN-PHILIPPE COURTOIS: Executive coach Michael Bungay Stanier says treat your thoughts with a certain amount of suspicion. Be gentle and encouraging with yourself. And if negative thoughts enter your mind, respond with affirmations.
MICHAEL BUNGAY STANIER: When I sign off my emails, I have an automatic digital signature on the bottom of my email and it says, you're awesome and you're doing great. I send it to everybody, and probably three times a week somebody writes back to me saying, oh, thanks for that. I really needed to hear that right now. And I find it useful to have that sense of affirmation. I'm kind of saying to myself regularly, Michael, you're awesome and you're doing great even when things are going to hell. Even when I'm not feeling that good about myself. Fundamentally I'm awesome. Fundamentally, I'm doing great.
JEAN-PHILIPPE COURTOIS: Develop phrases that work for you. Start with the words, “I am…” “I can…” or “I will…” followed by a present tense statement. Keep it simple so the statement is something you can easily remember.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: Two years into building the Huffington Post. I was the divorced mother of two teenage daughters, and I had bought into the collective delusion that in order to succeed, you have to be always on power through exhaustion.
JEAN-PHILIPPE COURTOIS: We cannot be on this version or lead others in a positive way when we are emotionally or physically depleted. And if you don't appreciate the value of self-care, it can have real consequences. As Arianna Huffington says, experience shows.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: I collapsed. I hit my head on my desk, broke my cheekbone, and right, in retrospect, was an amazing wake up call that helped me delve deeply into the world of burnout and begin to change how I live.
JEAN-PHILIPPE COURTOIS: Practicing gratitude has incredible effects, from improving our mental health to boosting our relationships with others.
PROFESSOR KIM CAMERON: For example, I have a colleague who did the following study and I've done it as well.
PROFESSOR KIM CAMERON: Kim Cameron is Professor of Management and Organizations at the University of Michigan.
PROFESSOR KIM CAMERON: Taking a classroom of students, asking them to keep a gratitude journal, which means at the end of the day, five minutes before you go to bed, just write down the best things that happened to you today. Those people keeping a gratitude journal are healthier, significantly healthier, more antibodies in their system, and actually their grade point average is higher than any other group.
JEAN-PHILIPPE COURTOIS: Remind yourself, each day, of the good things you enjoy. Write down the things your grateful for or say them out loud.
A few great ways to generate and manage your positive energy. Do them and you'll soon notice improvements in your life.
I'm Jean Philippe Courtois. You've been listening to Lesson 2 of the 9 Powers of Positive Leadership. If you've enjoyed this lesson, please take a moment to leave a comment or rating or share it with a friend
