Positivity and its Ripple Effect

This week I attended a leadership symposium focused on inspirational leadership and projecting a positive attitude. It really was fascinating and if you’ve never heard of Shawn Achor, I highly recommend you check out his TED talk videos and his book The Happiness Advantage. A lot of what he speaks about is stuff we intuitively feel. For instance, if you either work with someone or interact with someone in a bad mood, it can at times rub off on you. Many of us have been there but Achor explains the basic science behind it.

Of course these basic thoughts and discussions about positivity really got me thinking about writing and its solitary nature. Despite authors tendency to write most books themselves (there are of course collaborative efforts or works), we have a tendency to surround ourselves with others in similar positions. It helps to know that someone can empathize with your ups and downs, and writing certainly has lots of both. Where I really believe this positivity and inspiration yields great results is in these larger group settings such as critique group chats, chapter meetings and writers’ conferences. This is where we tend to feed off each other the most, but if we were to carry this same positivity with us on a daily basis, science says we’ll yield greater and more productive results. For someone like me who never has enough time, this sounds great, but I’ll leave it to you all to try yourselves.

happy writing this week and don’t forget to think positive thoughts!

Filed under: romance, Toni Kelly