The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy

“You’re the one with the failing marriage. You’re the one who is about to get fired, who now doesn’t even have a car to drive to work and can’t even put on your own shoes. You’re the one living a soap opera.”

Staring at himself in the mirror, George realizes he’s looking right at the source of his troubles. Somehow, it’s his responsibility, and not random fate, to put things right.

“Every one of us got challenges. Everyone who comes on this bus has problems. Some got marriage problems, health problems, family problems, work problems, and some got all kinds of problems. It’s part of life and I’m just another person on the bus who’s got another problem.”

Joy takes care of her father, who lives at an Alzheimer’s facility, on Tuesdays. He can’t remember anything anymore, not even his own daughter. Joy tells George that everyone, even cheerful people like herself, has burdens. It’s not the problem itself but how we respond to it that matters.

“Always remember that you are the driver of your bus. It’s the most important of the rules because if you don’t take responsibility for your life and control of your bus then you can’t take it where you want to go. If you’re not the driver, then you’ll always be at the whim of everyone else’s travel plans.”

Rule 1 is fundamental; without it, it’s not possible to implement the succeeding rules, which depend on a person’s sense of ownership of their life. When people blame others for their problems, they hand control of their happiness to those other people, and they become helpless before random turns of fate.

“‘The law of attraction,’ Joy continued, ‘and it says that the more we focus on something, the more we think about something, the more it shows up in our lives.’”

The second of Joy’s rules says that desire, vision, and focus will guide the direction of a person’s Energy Bus. When we focus on what we want, the energy of those thoughts begins to create the result we’re looking for.

“We must fuel up daily with positive thoughts, cultivate positive feelings, and take positive actions. Positive energy is all of these things.”

The third rule, that a person’s life bus should be fueled with positive energy, exhorts us to find the good and the positive in every event, even those that appear to be bad, and to move forward with enthusiasm toward our goals.

“The one great call, meeting, or sale; the one great conversation or interaction; the one great success that will inspire them to look forward to creating more success tomorrow. This, the book said, will inspire people to get addicted to life.”

Like golfers who become addicted to the game by remembering the one great shot from each round on the course, people can learn to love their lives simply by remembering their wins instead of agonizing over their losses.

“There will always be the doubters who doubt, doubt, and doubt and tell you you can’t do this and you won’t be able to accomplish that. They think that dreams were meant for others but not for people like you and them. And there will even be people who don’t want you to succeed because it makes them see their own weaknesses and failures.”

Many people would rather see others fail than face their own doubts. Many take pleasure in seeing other people’s dreams crumble. Their negativity stands as a challenge to those who would move forward in a positive direction. For this reason, it’s important to cultivate positivity like a muscle, until it becomes too strong for negativity to pull it down.

“When you feel good everyone around you feels good. And we’re not talking about feeling good from a double latte or candy bar kind of feeling good. We’re talking about a feeling joy, happiness, enthusiasm, gratitude, passion, and excitement kind of feeling good.”

Joy explains to George that it’s his mindset, not merely his skillset, that matters when he’s interacting with others. When he brings a positive attitude, others begin to glow with that energy too.

“When you feel good you give from power. When you feel bad and try to feel good by pleasing others you only give away your power […] and this makes you weaker.”

If someone tries to win other peoples’ approval, they’re saying in effect that they’re weak and need validation. Seeking approval drains a person’s power. Sharing enthusiasm, by contrast, has power built into it, and that power benefits others and becomes its own validation.

“God keeps breaking your heart until it opens. And ain’t that the truth. Think about it. Every struggle, every challenge, every adversity brings you closer to your heart, to your true self, to who you really are.”

People tuck away their love and happiness, trying to protect it. All that does, however, is bring more sorrow into their lives. When at last they have nothing more to lose, their heart may open, and they may begin to share their deepest self with the world, the self of compassion and relentless spirit.

“‘And now it’s time for you to lead, George,’ she declared. ‘Not manage. I’m talking leading with positive contagious leadership. This is what your team craves. They want you to lead with heart.’”

More important than ideas, more powerful than rules or incentives, is the leader with heart, who guides with enthusiasm.

“CEO doesn’t stand for chief executive officer anymore. It stands for Chief Energy Officer. Why energy? Because energy is the currency of personal and professional success today. If you don’t have it you can’t lead, inspire, or make a difference. And the great thing about being a Chief Energy Officer is that anyone in your company including you can become one. Deciding to become a Chief Energy Officer means that you share positive, powerful, and contagious energy with your co-workers, employees, and customers!”

Bus passenger and corporate leader Jack tells George that leadership comes from the heart’s positive energy. No amount of skill or brainpower or work ethic or intimidation can make up for the power of heartfelt enthusiasm and energy. This power is available to anyone, of any rank, if they’ll accept and use it.

“Enthusiasm doesn’t mean you bounce off the walls all hyper and all. The kind of enthusiasm Jack and I talk about is real. You don’t have to force it or push it. You just live it. You let your presence do the convincing. So just focus on getting excited and enthusiastic yourself and let your energy do the talking.”

Positive energy manifests naturally as enthusiasm and doesn’t need to be showy or pushy. A positive person will inevitably emit this energy, and it will inspire others without any need to convince them. It has an effortless quality; it doesn’t have to prove itself to others, but others will be drawn to it and absorb it into their own behavior and participation.

“The energy of a company or team is cultivated by the energy and enthusiasm of the leaders and each person in the organization who contributes to the collective energy and culture of it. In turn this collective energy influences each person’s energy in the organization creating a perpetual cycle of positive energy or negative energy. So when people ask me what my company’s most important asset is I tell them it is energy. Not gas or oil, I say but the people and the energy they bring to their work. And this positive energy is what makes us successful.”

Jack describes how positive energy on a team, corporate or otherwise, becomes self-reinforcing. Absent such positivity, a negative leader can create self-reinforcing negativity as well. Either way, it’s the type of energy coursing through the team, positive or negative, that determines the team’s outcomes.

“[D]ust on gold doesn’t change the nature of gold. It’s still gold. And your team members just like you have a lot of dust on them. The key is to realize that inside every one of them is gold that wants to shine. The value is on the inside. Help them find their gold, George, as I have helped you. Remove their dust. Help them discover their strengths. Allow them to do what they do best. Let them utilize their strengths on a daily basis and know that as they utilize their strengths, their value and the value of the team will increase tenfold. That’s love. Letting people share their gifts and strengths is real love.”

Joy explains the meaning of the dirty rock she gave George. When he cleans the rock, he discovers it’s a nugget of real gold. Like the rock, George and his team members have accumulated an encrustation of life’s dirt over their golden hearts. Helping his team to clean off that dust and to nurture their inner strengths will make real George’s love for them. It will also polish George’s own golden spirit.

“When you love someone you want the best for them. You want them to be successful and happy. You want to bring out the best in them. Thus the best way any leader can demonstrate their love for their team is to help each person discover their strengths and provide an opportunity for that person to utilize them.”

Of Jack’s five rules for loving your team, the fifth and final rule is the most important: Love someone by helping to bring out their best self. This is the most powerful thing one person can do for another; in that way, it also is the most powerful way to love them.

“When you fuel up with purpose you find the excitement in the mundane, the passion in the everyday, and the extraordinary in the ordinary. Purpose is what life is all about. Everyone’s out there trying to find their purpose when all you have to do is find the bigger purpose in the here and now and your purpose will find you.”

Every job is part of a higher purpose. The janitor who cleans the floors is helping a company generate its next big product. The secretary who files papers is helping her law firm win important cases that might change the law. A waiter is earning money to launch her own restaurant. Sometimes a job’s higher purpose is one invented by the worker. Joy drives a bus, but her true purpose is helping people transform themselves. The higher purpose is what inspires people at their work; it smooths out the rough spots and animates the dull ones, giving meaning to daily chores.

“Don’t be one of these leaders who get inspired only when there’s a big project or deadline or job at stake. It won’t last and it won’t lead to greatness. Foster spirit and allow it to move through your team by fueling up with purpose.”

Purpose isn’t a one-time thing but a daily commitment to a larger goal. Big projects and big wins are inspiring, but making them the purpose leads to gaps in positivity and inspiration. It’s better to see the overall goal that generates the projects; this will energize even the quiet and mundane workdays.

“If you really started counting your blessings you would realize that they are greater than the stars in the sky. When you feel blessed you don’t have time to be stressed. And this feeling of gratitude will fuel your performance today. It will lift you up and carry you over the finish line.”

Instead of focusing on stress, Joy tells George to focus on what he’s grateful for: a job, a good team, a loving family, good health. That gratitude will energize him, fill him with trust, and help him overcome any obstacle.

“The goal in life is to live young, have fun, and arrive at your final destination as late as possible, with a smile on your face.”

Bus passenger Eddy, 88 years young, met Joy at the facility where her father and his spouse are being treated for Alzheimer’s. Eddy taught Joy this goal for his life, and she made it the final item on her list of 10 rules: to have fun and enjoy the ride. Each of us has our one life, and enjoying the ride is worth more than all the possessions we might obtain, especially since those things stay behind after we leave this life.

“Too many people stress over too many meaningless things. People get all protective of their turf. Just watch the news. Even countries argue over borders. If people only woke up they’d realize the whole universe is their home. Why fight over small pieces of territory when you can claim the universe as yours?”

When people think there’s not enough happiness in the world, they fight over scraps that might provide a bit more pleasure. Happiness, though, comes to people not from possessions or achievements but from within, from positive energy and love for others and the world around them. Of that kind of happiness there is an endless amount.

“The best legacy you could leave is not some building that is named after you or a piece of jewelry but rather a world that has been impacted and touched by your presence, your joy, and your positive actions.”

The biggest difference we can make in ourselves and other people is to fill our lives with happiness and share it with others. This also becomes our greatest legacy.

“Life is a test. Every adversity helps us grow. Negative events and people teach us what we don’t want so we can focus our energy on what we do want.”

Properly understood, every event in our lives, both good and bad, teaches us lessons that help us to move toward our goals. A mind tuned to positivity and joy will learn from every experience, find the path through adversity, and arrive at the right place.