Avoid the 'energy vampires' to stay happy, speaker says
As he sat aboard his “Energy Bus” on a road somewhere in Texas last week, Jon Gordon recalled a Gallup study that once found 80 percent of people say the worst and best moments in their lives are the same thing.
He believes that to be true. Just go back six years. His wife threatened to leave him. He begged her to stay. Money was dwindling. He lost his job when the dot-com crash hit. There was a mortgage and two young children.
He fell to his knees, his worst moment, his best moment, his “Jerry Maguire moment,” he now says.
“I remember praying, ‘God, what is my purpose? Why am I here? I feel like I am dying every day and I need to start living.’”
When the prayer was over, he says a peace overcame him.
Running on minimal funds, he opened Moe’s Southwest Grill in Jacksonville, Fla. Gordon figures the restaurant had about two months to turn a profit before he was in complete financial ruin.
The restaurant broke even the first four weeks. Then came a wonderful surprise. A local tech business called him out of the blue. Teach us about wireless, they said.
Six weeks of teaching earned him $13,000. The restaurant stayed afloat and then some. He had five restaurants when he sold the business a few years ago. Motivational speaking and writing is what he really wanted to do.
Well, here he is, three books to his name later, on a 30-city road tour of inspiration that has taken him from New York to Los Angeles and many stops in between. On Wednesday, he’ll be in Lincoln, speaking at 10 a.m. at Woods Auditorium at Union College.
The 36-year-old will speak about the ideas presented in his new book, “The Energy Bus.” (In salute to the title, he’s traversing the country in an SUV he calls his Energy Bus.) The book was written in just one inspiring month, Gordon says.
“Each day I would take a walk and I would pray every morning while I walk. While I was walking, I would literally get insights, sort of get a new idea, a rule would come up.”
He ended up with 10 rules to fuel your life, work and team with positive energy.
“My dad was a New York City police officer,” Gordon says. “He never read my two other books but he read this one in two days. I knew it was a good sign.”
The book has been something of a success outside the family, too, landing him interviews on The Today Show and CNN. Jack Del Rio, head coach of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, even called him to tell him he was a fan and was making each of his players read it.
It’s based on a fictional character George, who has a miserable life and a wife who wants to leave him. To make things worse, one day he wakes up and finds he has a flat tire.
In a hurry, he takes a bus that carries an optimistic driver named Joy and a cast of characters that teach him “10 rules for the ride of his life.”
Gordon says the idea for the book relates to an experience he had a few years ago when he was picked up in Denver by a bus driver named George.
“This guy is just so full of life, so full of energy. I said, ‘Why are you so happy?’ He says, ‘Because I love life. I love you. I love me and I love God ... I love it all and it’s all connected.’”
One of Gordon’s rules is how to neutralize “Energy Vampires,” those people who can drain you each day with their negativity.
“The biggest problem we’re really facing day to day is negativity,” Gordon says. “Can you overcome that to find yourself and success?”
Six years after facing his biggest struggle, he has his own Web site (jongordon.com), is paid handsomely for his speeches and lives in Florida by the popular TPC Sawgrass golf course.
He’s a better speaker than a golfer, he says.
“Honestly, I’m very thankful. I remember being on my knees.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
He believes that to be true. Just go back six years. His wife threatened to leave him. He begged her to stay. Money was dwindling. He lost his job when the dot-com crash hit. There was a mortgage and two young children.
He fell to his knees, his worst moment, his best moment, his “Jerry Maguire moment,” he now says.
“I remember praying, ‘God, what is my purpose? Why am I here? I feel like I am dying every day and I need to start living.’”
When the prayer was over, he says a peace overcame him.
Running on minimal funds, he opened Moe’s Southwest Grill in Jacksonville, Fla. Gordon figures the restaurant had about two months to turn a profit before he was in complete financial ruin.
The restaurant broke even the first four weeks. Then came a wonderful surprise. A local tech business called him out of the blue. Teach us about wireless, they said.
Six weeks of teaching earned him $13,000. The restaurant stayed afloat and then some. He had five restaurants when he sold the business a few years ago. Motivational speaking and writing is what he really wanted to do.
Well, here he is, three books to his name later, on a 30-city road tour of inspiration that has taken him from New York to Los Angeles and many stops in between. On Wednesday, he’ll be in Lincoln, speaking at 10 a.m. at Woods Auditorium at Union College.
The 36-year-old will speak about the ideas presented in his new book, “The Energy Bus.” (In salute to the title, he’s traversing the country in an SUV he calls his Energy Bus.) The book was written in just one inspiring month, Gordon says.
“Each day I would take a walk and I would pray every morning while I walk. While I was walking, I would literally get insights, sort of get a new idea, a rule would come up.”
He ended up with 10 rules to fuel your life, work and team with positive energy.
“My dad was a New York City police officer,” Gordon says. “He never read my two other books but he read this one in two days. I knew it was a good sign.”
The book has been something of a success outside the family, too, landing him interviews on The Today Show and CNN. Jack Del Rio, head coach of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, even called him to tell him he was a fan and was making each of his players read it.
It’s based on a fictional character George, who has a miserable life and a wife who wants to leave him. To make things worse, one day he wakes up and finds he has a flat tire.
In a hurry, he takes a bus that carries an optimistic driver named Joy and a cast of characters that teach him “10 rules for the ride of his life.”
Gordon says the idea for the book relates to an experience he had a few years ago when he was picked up in Denver by a bus driver named George.
“This guy is just so full of life, so full of energy. I said, ‘Why are you so happy?’ He says, ‘Because I love life. I love you. I love me and I love God ... I love it all and it’s all connected.’”
One of Gordon’s rules is how to neutralize “Energy Vampires,” those people who can drain you each day with their negativity.
“The biggest problem we’re really facing day to day is negativity,” Gordon says. “Can you overcome that to find yourself and success?”
Six years after facing his biggest struggle, he has his own Web site (jongordon.com), is paid handsomely for his speeches and lives in Florida by the popular TPC Sawgrass golf course.
He’s a better speaker than a golfer, he says.
“Honestly, I’m very thankful. I remember being on my knees.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
Copyright © 2002-2008 Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.