Ever notice how some changes leave you feeling energized and capable while others leave you exhausted and overwhelmed? What creates this difference? Why do some uncertainties feel like exciting challenges while others trigger that familiar "Oh FUD!" — fear, uncertainty, and doubt — spiral?

The truth is that when change hits, our brains tend to immediately scan for threats in an effort to keep us safe. This negativity bias served our ancestors well when survival depended on spotting dangers quickly, but in modern workplaces, this same instinct to urgently fix problems can make sustaining our energy for change more exhausting than it needs to be.

For example, research by David Cooperrider and colleagues (including myself) suggests that most workplaces spend about 80% of their effort addressing our weaknesses (the things we are not good at) and only 20% building on our strengths (the things we are wired to do well). Yet when we flip this ratio, we often see better individual and collective outcomes with far less energy expenditure. Why? Because our strengths........

© Psychology Today