Tuesday, September 5, 2017

The Power of Positivity


“Being positive won’t guarantee you will succeed, but being negative will guarantee you won’t.” -Jon Gordon’s The Energy Bus
            When I became superintendent, I decided to choose a word of the year that our staff and I could work towards every day. Last year, I chose the word “team.” During the excitement, challenges, worries, and success of the past year, our staff remained a unified team through it all. During the summer, I had a difficult time deciding on this year’s word until I attended the annual Kentucky Association of School Administrators’ Conference. 
            At the conference, I had the opportunity to hear author and keynote speaker Jon Gordon. Jon Gordon is well known for his books about leadership, culture, sales, and teamwork. Several years ago, I read his book The Energy Bus. As I sat in the conference center listening to Jon and remembering his book, I knew exactly what the word of the year would be: positivity.
In The Energy Bus, Jon describes the need for positive energy in every aspect of life. He defines positive energy as the optimism, trust, enthusiasm, love, purpose, joy, and passion to perform at a higher level. Positivity is the ability to overcome adversity, negative people, and negative situations that threaten to sabotage health, family, team, and success.  
Three years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. During chemotherapy, I had times where I was thinking negatively. I soon realized to look at what I did have. I was blessed with a supportive and caring family, the best doctors, nurses, and hospitals for treatments and surgery, and a work environment that rallied around me. It did not take long to realize there were many more individuals dealing with more difficult situations. There were mothers and fathers who were watching their child fight cancer; others were being diagnosed for a second and third time. Once I changed my mindset, my life became better.
Our world is in desperate need for more positivity. Positivity begins with one attitude and action at a time. Take inventory of your life and appreciate the amazing things that are around you. One of Twitter’s trending hashtags is #BePositiveIn4Words. My hashtags would be #ILoveMyFamily and #MyJobIsAwesome. What would your hashtag be?

            If you want to begin the journey to a more positive life, I encourage you to pick up your copy of The Energy Bus. Not only will you feel better, achieve more, and motivate others, you will better the world through the power of positivity.