The power of positivity is real. We feel it in our everyday lives when a coworker’s smile gets us through a rough meeting, or a good car-karaoke session starts our day a little brighter. But until now, the effects of positive thinking always just felt like a hunch.  

Bert and John Jacobs, co-founders of the Life is Good lifestyle brand, just teamed up with BigSpeak’s exclusive speaker Tan Le to use technology to prove the power of positive thought. As Chief Executive Optimists, the Jacobs brothers turned their business selling T-shirts out of a van into a globally recognized company with a focus on promoting positivity and helping others.

The Jacobs brothers attribute their success to one question their mother always asked around the dinner table:”What went right today?” They were raised on positive thinking and believe their positive perspective is what helped them grow their business—despite having no experience as entrepreneurs.

Recently, Life is Good showed how tangible positivity really is. The brothers teamed up with Tan Le’s team at Emotiv, a tech company who pioneered the first non-invasive headset that reads brain waves, to turn positive thoughts into actions.

They created a setup in which someone wearing an Emotiv headset could turn on a water spout and fill up a cup with water using positive thoughts alone. Watch the video below to see how thoughts of loved ones, special places, and even cupcakes metaphorically and literally filled up each person’s cup with positivity.

Jessica Welch is the Content Marketing Associate at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Anthropology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her business thought articles often appear on Business 2 Community, Born 2 Invest, and YF Entrepreneurs.