What would positivity do here?

Being positive, fostering an affirmative orientation, leading with optimism, these interpersonal strategies sound squishy, saccharin and touchy feely.

And maybe they are. But that doesn’t mean they’re ineffective. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Positivity is the kind of force that has its own vector, like a geometric object with strength and magnitude and direction. It’s been clinically proven.

Fredrickson’s psychology research found that experiencing positive emotions broadens people’s momentary thought action repertoires, enlarges cognitive perspectives, and enhances their ability to attend to more information, make richer interpretations.

The important distinction to make about this data is, positivity doesn’t increase your success. But what it does do is increase your field of vision, and that allows you to better notice the valuable opportunities that might lead to success.

Negative emotions don’t afford you that kind of leverage. They’re important and useful to the human experience, but negativity will almost certainly narrow your perception.

I’ve seen this play out in a variety of situations before. When contestants come on my product development and innovation gameshow, the most important rule we discuss before starting the game is, say yes.

You have to say yes to the game, to each other, to the ideas we come up with, and of course, to the concept of sitting around and trying to create ideas that other people will steal. That’s the spirit of improv comedy. Players absolutely must have an affirmative orientation.

Because that positivity stretches their minds open. It widens their array of possibilities. It puts everyone in the game in a state of forward notion.

Without framing the game in that way, it wouldn’t be fun, wouldn’t be funny, and wouldn’t lead our contestants down the innovative path. It would just feel like another one of those boring meetings at work.

How biased towards optimism are you? Are you someone who uses negativity to focus on the problem, or uses positivity to find solutions to it?

Get in the habit of asking yourself these kinds of questions.

Focus on being affirming and life giving, rather than critical and life numbing, and you’ll create leverage for yourself and those around you.

How are you taking responsibility for the energy you’re bringing to the world?