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

An Energy Vampire is someone whose negativity drains the people around them. Joy says, “I call the people who drain your energy Energy Vampires and they will suck the life out of you and your goals and vision if you let them” (73). Rule 6 addresses Energy Vampires specifically: “Post a Sign That Says NO ENERGY VAMPIRES ALLOWED on Your Bus” (74). Energy Vampires must be confronted. If they agree to recommit to supporting the team’s effort, they can stay; otherwise, they should be removed.

Passenger Jack explains that the single most powerful contributor to positivity in a team is love. Jack presents George with his five ways to love team members, rules he applies successfully at his own corporation:

FIVE WAYS TO LOVE YOUR PASSENGERS

1.  Make Time for Them […]

2.  Listen to Them […]

3.  Recognize Them […]

4.  Serve Them […]

5. Bring Out the Best in Them […] (122-24).

Jack tells George that the best salespeople love their customers: “When customers know you love them instead of just seeing them as a new car or boat, they’ll never leave you. When they feel the love they will send you more business and refer more people to you” (116). Jack and Joy call these people Love Magnets. They’re not Romeos; they’re sincere and loving workers, family members, and team members whose love for others generates a reciprocal love that energizes positive and worthwhile transactions between people.

Chief Energy Officers, or CEOs, share positive energy with everyone at work, from coworkers to customers. In Chapter 25 Jack tells George that anyone can be a Chief Energy Officer. By applying optimism and positive energy to the task at hand, no matter how engaging, mundane, or challenging, such CEOs create an enthusiasm that uplifts and encourages team members. Once on board with this style of positive thinking, these team members can become CEOs themselves, generating more positivity, optimism, and enthusiasm, which increases team cohesion and contributes to successful outcomes. This idea is reflected in Rule 7: “Enthusiasm Attracts More Passengers and Energizes Them During the Ride” (106).

The NRG Company, where George works, manufactures light bulbs. George’s team there, once a fast-climbing force, has lately fallen into chaos, forced daily to solve cascading crises instead of moving forward. When spoken, NRG sounds like “energy,” and George’s task is to be a Chief Energy Officer of NRG. To do that, he must pull his team out of the chaos he caused as their leader, create positive energy for them, and work with them to develop a stellar presentation for the launch of the NRG-2000 light bulb.

The NRG-2000 is the newest product from the NRG Company. George’s team is charged with creating the design for the new item’s marketing launch. Because of problems within the team, largely created by George’s failures as a leader, the odds of success are small. However, the team rallies behind George when he transforms his attitude to one of positivity and guides them toward a successful presentation.

Positive energy is the fuel that powers a person’s journey toward good outcomes. It includes positive thoughts, positive feelings, and positive actions. People fill their lives either with positive or negative energy: “where there is a void, negativity will fill it so we must keep fueling up with positive energy so the negative energy doesn’t have room to expand” (48).

On the Energy Bus, Joy and Marty gift George with a children’s book that Joy calls “That Energy Book,” a compendium of inspiring stories about bringing positive energy into our lives. The book contains simple stories and lessons that help George assimilate Joy’s teachings. At first George is skeptical that a kid’s book can teach him anything, but Joy tells him that “the closer you get to truth, the simpler and more powerful the lessons become” (30).

Bus driver Joy’s 10 rules form the basis of a high-energy, positive life. Posted at the front of the bus near the mirror, the 10 rules are learned by all the regular passengers on bus 11, the Energy Bus. As a result, the bus is a happy, loving, high-energy vehicle filled with cheerful riders. The rules are as follows:

10 RULES FOR THE RIDE OF YOUR LIFE

1.  You’re the driver of your bus.

2.  Desire, vision, and focus move your bus in the right direction.

3.  Fuel your ride with positive energy.

4.  Invite people on your bus and share your vision for the road ahead.

5.  Don’t waste your energy on those who don’t get on your bus.

6.  Post a sign that says NO ENERGY VAMPIRES ALLOWED on your bus.

7.  Enthusiasm attracts more passengers and energizes them during the ride.

8.  Love your passengers.

9.  Drive with purpose.

10. Have fun and enjoy the ride (157).