• Home
  • Contact
  • Blog

Energize Performance

Ignite Passion and Performance with User Friendly Brain Tools

  • Buy the book

Menu

  • About the Book
    • About Energize
    • Testimonials
    • Table of Contents
    • Excerpts
    • Goodies
  • Motivational Speaking
  • About the Author
  • Consulting

Browsing Tags being liked

Transforming Trauma by Going Positive – interview

October 23, 2012 · by Bob Faw

I love helping people transform their lives. I love it so much, I often do it for free. I am on the board of directors of Vital Cycles, and do a lot of volunteering with trauma survivors.

The purpose of Vital Cycles is to empower those who seek joy in living while healing the impacts of emotional trauma.

I was just interviewed on a blogradio program talking at length about trauma, how Vital Cycles helps and other resources for those that deal with emotional trauma.

If you’re interested in hearing the recording click here.

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Smile Power!

September 19, 2012 · by Bob Faw

Who knew that rebalancing the negativity bias with enough positive could have so many great results? Here is a wonderful speaker talking about great research showing so many advantages to smiling often!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Influencing Your Inner Movie – The Thinker & The Caveman

September 13, 2012 · by Bob Faw

This is my favorite thing to teach. Being able to positively influence oneself is a critical skill for anyone increasing success, happiness, and even health.

There will be more videos teaching how to apply these concepts and tools in your life.

Stay tuned!

 

(note: Safari seems to have trouble playing this video. Please use a different web browser.)

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Mr. Happy Man – an inspiration to us all

April 23, 2012 · by Bob Faw


Bermuda’s Johnny Barnes shares his love of life and humanity with thousands every day.

Talk about positive influence!! Prepare to be inspired by this amazing man.

Meet Johnny Barnes in this video

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Gratitude improves health, happiness, love-life, popularity and more

November 11, 2011 · by Bob Faw

Scientific research brings us more proof of the power of gratitude!

A great blog post by Ocean Robbins…

The Neuroscience of Why Gratitude Makes Us Healthier

 

 

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Increasing positivity in every day life

September 30, 2011 · by Bob Faw

I just read a wonderful post by a dear colleague, Schon Beechler titled Battling the Barrage: Ten Ways to Bring Positivity into Every Day.

I added two powerfully positive things I do in the comments below her post as well.

Creating positivity despite the bad stuff

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Positive change agents – principles for enjoyable success

August 10, 2011 · by Bob Faw

We’ve used these principles to guide our positive change projects for years.  

These principles are keys to motivating busy people.

  1. Take the time to make goals clear and compelling.
  2. The easier it is to contribute the more people do it.
  3. Make starting steps doable and clear.
  4. Make sure people feel confident enough in their role.
  5. Frame goals, directions and other communication positively.
  6. Steady guidance at a strategic level keeps people on track and confident in success.
  7. Make questions specific, positive and generative.
  8. Keep focused on your top priority goal. Ensure that you’ve applied all the resources you need to to this goal.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Using classical music to inspire – video

December 18, 2010 · by Bob Faw

This video shows Benjamin Zander in full glory presenting at TED.com. Being a world-class conductor, he speaks to influence and leadership using marvelous musical analogies. He has wonderful stories that are worth the video themselves as well. And his shoe salesmen joke is a classic example of looking for solutions.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Power of gratitude – the benefits of giving thanks

November 24, 2010 · by Bob Faw

Giving thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is an opportunity to pause and take stock of what I am grateful for. In addition to turkey I can fill myself with the warm realization of what is good in my life.

Gratitude has a profound impact at work as well.

The obvious benefits of gratitude are:

  • When we thank others, it reinforces the behaviors we most want
  • It helps others to feel good about the way they impact us
  • We strengthen our relationships with those we’re grateful to

The less obvious, but equally powerful benefits are:

  • We positively change our own brain chemistry! Gratitude, and the mental images of things we like, trigger the release of endorphins and other biochemicals. These help us relax, recharge and refocus. We are then able to think more creatively, flexibly and positively.
  • These same changes influence our tone of voice, facial expression and even the words we use. Making us far more likely to positively influence others
  • There’s increasing evidence of a correlation between positive attitudes and health and longevity. That’s delightful.
  • Positive, grateful people tend to be more popular. I don’t know about you, but I find that helps me in so many ways.

I’ve found that I can hone this skill to the point of proactively looking for what I like about people and what they do and then causally mentioning these things in conversations, during trainings, etc. Sincere references like this help build rapport, enable others to feel safe opening up with me, and often engender return positivity.

Here are three ways you can use this power this week:

  • Gratitude List: Create a list of the people you are grateful to and why.
  • Gratitude Letter: Write a letter to someone who has positively influenced your life. Sending it makes it even better, although just the writing is enough to shift your own perspective.
  • Mention sincere praise to five people a day for the next two weeks. This helps it become a skill you can use any time, and hopefully a popularity-growing habit will form!

You depend on good relationships for almost everything you do in life. You might as well hone the powerful of gratitude to be happier, more successful and heck, it might even help you live longer!

For more information on building resilience through influencing yourself go to my post on this topic.

 

There’s also a great article in the Wall Street Journal on this topic.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Conference room combat to improv jazz – true story

October 28, 2010 · by Bob Faw

This is a true story of Improv Leadership creating more dynamic presentations.

This is a guest post from a good friend and colleague of mine, Eric. He is a senior healthcare architect who has mastered the art of co-design with his clients using improv leader and solution-focus techniques. Here’s his story:

My work as a healthcare planner requires a capacity to talk about complex medical issues and translate those issues into a spatial solution for my firm’s clients; there is, of course, never enough time, space or money!

In the past, those meetings have been “conference room combat” for me, now they are “improv jazz”!

The difference?

  • I have come to recognize that the best solution is not “my solution” but is truly owned by the folks who will use the end result (the implemented plan). By freeing myself up from the presumption that, as the “planning expert” I must generate the “best plan”, I create the opportunity for me to participate freely in the dialogue.  That dialogue, in turn, is free to head into unexpected turf and unconventional, but effective solutions.
  • Once I frame alternatives as potentials for them to review, criticize, examine, take apart and reassemble, clients actually respect my professional skills more, rather than less.  It removes the “yes/no” charge from discussions about solutions, and directs the discussion into the wonderful grey area of “what if?” where true can emerge.  We focus intuitively on the positive and the potential, and view obstacles as opportunities to be mastered!
  • By engaging in dialogue, my clients understand that I view their expertise and experience as critical to the process.  When clinicians are invited to participate, they focus on real issues, rather than “grandstanding” or politicizing the process.

In “conference room combat”, someone may appear to win, but ultimately, everyone loses. The end product suffers.  By creating an environment that allows fluidity of thought everyone has a voice at the table, and the result is an improvisational work session that can truly lead to better, more dynamic and optimal solutions.

Eric R. Lautzenheiser, AIA, ACHA

Director of Health Facilities Planning

Francis Cauffman

If you have a story to share and want to be a guest blogger here, let me know.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...
Page 2 of 3 « Previous 1 2 3 Next »
  • Search blog posts by topic

    activities ACT Team appreciative inquiry being liked Best DNA Bob Faw brain Brain chemistry brain science Business calm career caveman change communication consulting dream effectiveness empowerment energize experiences fulfilling improvisation influence inspiration learned optimism learning motivation passion performance positive Positive deviance positive psychology positive thinking priming productivity Purpose solution solution focus solutions focus speaker strengths tools training transform
  • Connect with Bob on Facebook

    Connect with Bob on Facebook

    Recent Blog posts

    • Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast!
    • Are You Getting Everything You Want?
    • Are You Thriving or Just Surviving?
    • Resiliency Lessons from the Red Cross
    • Mindfulness is a Superpower

    Follow Blog via Email

    Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1 other subscriber
  • Theme: Debut by Cedaro.
  • Proudly powered by WordPress
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d