People Fuel

Fill Your Tank for Life, Love, and Leadership

By: John Townsend

Narrated by: John Townsend

People Fuel outlines the 22 relational nutrients we all need to cultivate good relationships that provide energy, focus, and the support to be all you were meant to be.

Just as good nutrition is necessary for a healthy body and physical energy, so the right kinds of relationships are critical to living a successful and confident life. If we don't take enough iron, we can develop anemia. Too little calcium leads to bone disease. In the same way, we need the 22 relational nutrients essential to a healthy, energized, and productive life.

In People Fuel, Dr. John Townsend - psychologist, leadership consultant, and coauthor of the New York Times best-selling Boundaries - shows you how truly good relationships give you energy, focus, and the support you need to succeed. Through stories and clear applications, Dr. Townsend shows you how to:

• Identify the types of people who can be either energy gains or energy drains
• Receive from relationships the help and support that God intended
• Create higher-quality connections with your family, friends, and coworkers
• Boost your productivity and creativity at work
• Build your essential life team

As we learn to tap into these vital nutrients from quality relationships, we will experience more energy, positivity, focus, and the exponential growth to become the confident people God created us to be.

People Fuel is also available in Spanish, Gente que Sume.

Reference charts, tables, and appendix available in the audiobook companion PDF download.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 John Townsend (P)2019 Zondervan

Needs more enunciation

Great book with great information. Unfortunately the words rolled together and the relationship nutrient tags sort of got steamrolled by the pace. Emphasize the tags more and the audio book would be solid.

Awesome

We all need more books on this subject, we need more people who are the hands and feet of Jesus! Dawn

Deep Understanding with Easy Handles

As a speaker, coach, and author who helps leaders optimize their life through thriving relationships, I was excited to read this book.

Townsend has once again delivered deep understanding of how people work, while granting easy to reach handles allowing even the earliest beginer to make real change toward an optimal life.

Read it, review it, live it!

People Matter

The closer my relationship with God progresses so does my desire for authentic relationship. This book was another great step in being able to achieve that. Understanding our needs and the needs of others and how to get better at that is crucial and this book did just that. My only critique was the audible version did not offer the link and password for the 15 Day Challenge mentioned at the end.

Useful for everyone

This book covers so many things that most people think are a mystery about relationships. It is one I recommend to all of my business friends and their spouses.

Insightful and Practical!

People Fuel was an excellent book on cultivating relationships that empower, energize and refine us into better people. It is written with Christian views and morals however would be highly applicable to someone who may not hold similar views. It is also a very manageable read as I am not a huge reader but stayed engaged the entire time.
Townsend Opens and closes the book with a point that rang very true in my heart, and that I think many of us need to hear, “We need to need”. Highlighting the aspect of most people’s relational deficiency, sets up his explanation on the twenty-two Relational Nutrients he spends most of his time on.
These relational nutrients are sectioned into four quadrants: Be Present, Convey The Good, Provide Reality and Call to Action. He breaks down in great detail how each nutrient can provide unique and effective communication or connection with others. What was even more fascinating was his insight on the timing each quadrant of nutrients can appropriately be used to create a safe and supportive relationship. One example of a nutrient that was particularly meaningful to me was Containment in the Be Present quadrant. He explains containment as essential venting; he shares that everyone needs to have someone they can contain with as well as be in a healthy space to have others contain in them. There is no goal or need to provide any solutions, try to relate and encourage in these situations. Townsend states that simply being able to vocalize hurt or frustration with someone can cut the burden in nearly half. This is something I do not do virtually at all, so it was challenging to hear!
The encouraging part about the twenty-two relational nutrients is that Townsend communicates them in a very practical and relatable way. To nearly every aspect of life. He speaks heavily to the professional work space and the marriage space, though he highlights uses in friendships, families and more as well. Some books encouraging development or change offer ideas that are great in theory but difficult to put into practice. Townsend shares these in a way that are easily digestible to the reader and intuitive to envision implementing. This section truly left me reflecting and evaluating how I communicate with my wife, coworkers, friends and ave parents. But of course, it also got me thinking about whether or not I have people in my life offering these sorts of nutrients back to me; which led perfectly into part 3 on surrounding yourself with the right people.
In part 3 Townsend describes seven different types of people and how we should be interacting with them. The first five types are positive, functional relationships we should strive two have. The final two are toxic relationships we need to be able to recognize and protect ourselves from. One major relationship he describes is the Comrade, which are the people we should primarily be doing life with. He encourages forming what he calls a “Life Team” out of this group of people, which act as a vehicle of life accountability, encouragement and challenge. This section was very insightful and I plan on implementing what he recommends here. Ultimately this whole section was key in helping me reflect on the state and quality of my current relationships. I was able to see major deficiencies in relational nutrients due to the people I have around me.
Townsend continues to caveat throughout the book and especially in this final section, how people were created to be in community and fellowship. A major avenue for Gods love and teaching comes through other people around us. I really appreciate the wisdom shared throughout this book.

So helpful and practical

This book helped me realize the importance of people in our lives, relational nutrients, and how to give and receive them. I'm looking forward to implementing the concepts and ideas.

The 7 C’s are the best part

Found myself lulling through most of the book. This may be more on myself than Townsend, as I’ve read many books about relationships, so the material wasn’t new. I did enjoy the last section of the book- the 7 C’s. I believe integrating these into anyones life will be of great value.

Life Changing!

This book is life changing! The narrator uses good expression n makes it easy to follow.

Profound and life-changing

The principles presented by Dr. Townsend are dramatic in their ability to hone in on what we really need to change our lives and impact the lives of others we encounter.