Is positivity a choice?

You probably know someone who exudes the power of positivity. Not in a fake or toxic way, but in an authentic way that inspires you and pumps you up. Have you ever wondered how they got like that and how can you get some of that?

“Yo! Fired up!”

This is how Stephen Minix greeted me the morning of our recording. And it was infectious and it set the tone for our conversation.

Stephen is the Vice President of Community at UpMetrics, he’s public speaker, a connector, a Girl Dad, and a former high school and college coach. He’s very persuasive in many ways.

But he wasn’t born this way. He learned at a very early age that life is a series of choices and the only thing you control is your choices and response to stimulus.

Deepak Chopra said “To resist or flow is the only choice in life. One leads to suffering, the other, joy.”

Victor Frankl said “between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

Stephen Minix knows this to be true, but he didn’t learn it from Deepak or Victor, he learned it from his namesake, his father.

And with that choice, Stephen chooses to be positive and exude optimism. Not in a fake or toxic way, but in a very authentic way. “My dad taught me the importance of making that choice.”

When asked about authenticity and his superpower of positivity, Stephen said: “If you are going to judge me based on anything, I’m going to give you something to judge me on, which is exactly who the heck I want to be in the moment.”

In this episode, Stephen answers the following questions:
➡️ What does authentic positivity look like?
➡️ How do you increase your positivity?
➡️ What is the true meaning of positivity?
➡️ Is positivity a choice?

My favorite quote from the episode: “Never beat yourself up. Beating yourself up just results in you being beat up.”

I love this because it feels so true. The lesson too often from beating ourselves up is not to getting better and learning. We often learn to avoid those situations, meaning we don’t grow in that area. That feels like a bad lesson, a bad choice.

Resources mentioned in the episode:
➡️ Stephen’s LinkedIn
➡️ Book: “The Energy Bus” by John Gordon

Music in this episode by Ian Kastner.

"What Do You Know To Be True?" is a series of conversations where I speak with interesting people about their special talent or superhero power and the meaningful impact it has on others. The intention is to learn more about their experience with their superhero power, so that we can learn something about the special talent in each of us which allows us to connect more deeply with our purpose and achieve our potential.

For more info about the podcast or to check out more episodes, go to: What Do You Know To Be True?

"What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on, go to: https://native-land.ca/

Keywords
#Positivity #Impact #PowerOfChoice