Matching Positive Energy: Social Experiment Inspired By A Post-It Note

Summary:
In this voice note and mini research study, Wisdom for Wannabes podcast host Jackie Morreale discusses the importance of our energy on our interactions, particularly during the school year or when arriving to an office and greeting an administrative professional. She reflects on a note she found at her children's school that emphasizes the idea of matching energy with others. Through a social experiment, she explores how positivity can be contagious and how our energy affects those around us. The conversation encourages self-reflection on the energy we bring into different spaces and the impact it can have on our interactions.

Takeaways:

• Energy is contagious and can affect our interactions.
• Self-reflection on the energy we bring is crucial.
• Positivity can lead to a chain reaction in social settings.
• A simple greeting can change the energy of a space.
• The majority of people will mirror our positive energy.
• Acknowledging others' positive energy encourages them to continue.
• Administrative professionals play a vital role in creating a positive environment.
• We often get caught up in our own worlds and forget to connect with others.
• Small acts of kindness can have a significant impact.
• Bringing light and positivity into our interactions is essential.

Sound Bites:

• "Administrative Professionals make magic happen, every day."
• "We do match energies, often without even realizing it. Put your best self forward.”
• "50% of people we encountered mirrored our good energy."

The Post-it Note of Truth!

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The sun's rays reflected in a lake in Monroe, New Jersey. Photo by Gary Vilardi. Taken July 4, 2025.

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Transcript:
Hi and happy summer everybody! Parents out there and kids are super excited for the summer. Teachers who have off for the summer super excited. Lots of blue skies ahead of us as we refresh and recharge our batteries before the next year starts up again.

I happened to find myself at school last week, on an errand. I encountered this cool note at the front desk, a laminated Post-it note that looked very similar to this one that I had to create just for myself.

It says, I match energy, so you tell me how this will go.

How cute is this person for making a Post-it note that's so truthful and putting it on for everyone to see, as they're checking their kids in late or dropping off glasses or lunch or a water bottle.

This note really made me reflect. It was my first time seeing it. I've been there many, many times. I have never noticed it before.

Could have very easily just written, Be kind, right? As we would see all over the place in school, which is true. We should be kind. Everyone's fighting their own battle. It is on us to be kind to everyone as we would expect them to be kind to us.

But to say, "I match energy, so you tell me how this will go", really forces anyone to see it, to notice it, to reflect on themselves in such a smart way.

• What am I putting out there to this person?
• What am I bringing to this main office?
• What am I bringing to this gatekeeping person who is in an organization that's important in my life?

How great is this person that she knows that she's going to match this energy of the people that walk in.

Is anyone really going to the main office in any organization and not asking for a favor? If you're asking for a favor, you might as well bring some light in, some smiles in, when you greet this person.

We're all so wrapped up in our own deadlines and where we're trying to go that quite often it just slips through the cracks... and this person feels the brunt of that.

This gatekeeping role is so important for every single organization. I know today is not Administrative Professionals Day, but I thank everyone in an administrative role for making my life easier, for making everyone's lives easier, for making magic happen every single day.

Happy summer to them! I genuinely hope that you are able to come back to the new school year fully refreshed and revived.

Let's think about this question a little bit more: What energy am I bringing with me when I walk into a room? Let's bring this to your house, your office, a Zoom call even.

• What energy are you bringing to your space?
• Are you bringing light?
• Are you bringing authenticity?
• Are you bringing something that's contagious that other people can feel and react to?

Has anyone else in the room shown up where you've been and caused this chain reaction, caused this light to enter the room? If you have seen this, tell that person. Tell them to keep doing it, that they changed the room.

It's hard to realize that we do match energies. Just look at your pet or your children or a meeting, right? If you get home and you've had a bad day, you kind of feel the entire vibe of the household shifting. Maybe you have a wonderful pet that'll come and greet you if he or she knows that you are sad. They know how to react to energy instinctively and it's an amazing thing.

Thinking about how we create this chain reaction of positivity in the world. While we have hundreds, maybe thousands, of interactions, some of us, every day - whether it's in person, on the phone, email, text messages, online, however you communicate...

• What are you bringing to those communications?
• Are you bringing what's true to you?
• Are you telling other people that they did a great job?

Let's bring ourselves up and let's bring other people up as well.

I will keep that sticker. For those of us who want to create some positivity in the world and have that energy resound, for the sake of this conversation, did a little social experiment, with my daughter. Something like this, a little matrix if we have it here. We did a social experiment over three mornings last week.

After we saw this sign we asked: What would happen if we just waved and said hello to everyone that we saw? What would happen?

We did this over three days. The first day we went to the park, then we went for a walk around the community, and then we went to a camp drop-off.

We charted it out based on other crazies like us who initiated a wave or a hello, those who matched our energy and said hi back in some way acknowledging us, or those who just had no response. The total was 30 people in our group.

For the sake of conversation: If we're able to match negative energies, can we also match positive energies?

Our results were interesting. They were situational.

In terms of those others like us who initiate a hello, and this is just them, the park run had the most of them. There were two folks who were running and initiated the hello and it so great before we even had a chance to pick up our hands or smile. And one from the community walk initiated the hello.

So of the 30, we have 10 % of people like us who are trying to put this positivity out there, these smiles out there first, because we know that other people are going to match our energy. Let's lead it with positivity! Thank you for that, 10 % of people. I really appreciated your hello. Right back at you.

Let's talk about those who matched our positive energy, our hello or our smiles. In the park run, we had seven of the ten who matched our energy. This high energy group that are out there trying to find wellness and health. Thank you folks for smiling, thank you for waving, thank you for saying good morning. Next up was the community. Of the 10, five of them waved back or just matched our energy. Camp drop off, three, smiled or waved back. It's a little bit of a different group, less familiarity, more hustle, more bustle, more craziness happening to try to get kids to that camp drop off or to try to get back to your desk and pick up your next call. If I look at that group who match our energy in three different situations, with high energy, more familiarity, and more hustle bustle.

We had a total of the seven + five + three = 15. 15 out of 30, 50 % mirrored our good energy.

How great is that?

It's not just about the bad energy that we're mirroring. If you put out there good energy, 50 % of the time, you will get it back.

I would have done this mini research project if I had found that one person had mirrored my energy, it would have been worth it. Because maybe that one person takes it and has an exponential effect to their positivity.

When I saw that 10 % initiated a hello just like us, and 50 % matched our positivity, that's incredible to me.

No responders. In the park, we had one no responder. In the community, we had four no responders. At camp drop off, we had seven. People are in their own world. We can't affect everyone. We had 12 people out of the 30 who did not respond. Were not expecting this social experiment. Did not communicate back, 40%.

But the majority did!

Based on this cute little social experiment, I would say this:

Put your best self forward. Think about every space that you put yourself in. When you walk into your house, when you walk into a boardroom, when you walk into a new office for an appointment and a gatekeeper welcomes you.

Bring your smile, bring your positivity, because the majority of the time, they're going to send it right back to you.

On those days where you just have abundant energy, bring it with you and share it with other people.

If you feel it from that 10% of folks who already have the same and are putting it out there, just tell them they're doing a great job.

Let's see how many people that we can spin the negative to positive, and have them be enjoying the fact that they match energy because it's important.

Learnings from a Post-It note. I thank you for making me reflect and making me think about this a little scientifically and making me realize that we also match positivity and the majority of people do the same. Have a wonderful day!