---
title: "Energy up, down or sideways"
description: "A way to classify the emotional energy you leave customers with, to aim for up energy."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/oversubscribed/energy-up-down-or-sideways/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

# Energy up, down or sideways

> A way to classify the emotional energy you leave customers with, to aim for up energy.

Daniel Priestley's framework, from Oversubscribed, pp. 176 to 178.

Framework 16 of 21 from [Oversubscribed](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/oversubscribed/index.md) by Daniel Priestley. Category: Growth and strategy.

## The steps

1. **Up energy.** Delight, love, joy, pleasant surprise and unexpected caring; people talk about you positively.
2. **Down energy.** Dissatisfaction, anger and outrage from negative experiences nobody warned about; people talk about the emotion.
3. **Sideways energy.** Satisfaction or indifference from a job done as expected; people say nothing.

## Where it comes from

From chapter: ENERGY UP, DOWN OR SIDEWAYS, pp. 176–178

After a good show, Penn and Teller performed street magic on the pavement for anyone who stayed, leaving people with more than they paid for. Priestley says emotions cause businesses to become oversubscribed, and sorts emotional energy as up (delight, surprise), down (dissatisfaction, anger) or sideways (satisfaction, indifference). Only up energy gets people to talk about you. Do something great that people didn't see coming, keep some good things quiet, and when selling talk about only about 70% of what you plan to do.

## The animation

24 seconds, 4:5, no sound.

- MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/oversubscribed/energy-up-down-or-sideways.mp4
- MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/oversubscribed/energy-up-down-or-sideways-dark.mp4
- Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/oversubscribed/energy-up-down-or-sideways.png
- Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/oversubscribed/energy-up-down-or-sideways-dark.png