A Way of Seeing that Expands Leadership
Gratitude is a way of seeing, even when life isn’t perfect.
The opposite of gratitude:
- Envy. You can’t enjoy what you have because others have more.
- Blindness. You close your eyes to goodness.
- Arrogance. You deserve better.
- Bitterness. You refuse to find advantage in disadvantage.
4 benefits of gratitude:
- Opens the mind to ideas.
- Frees the heart from regret.
- Energizes after disappointment.
- Transforms negative attitudes. (Yours more than theirs.)
Gratitude faces challenges, opportunities, disappointments, and people with optimism. .
3 ways to find gratitude:
#1. Look for the good.
Never allow aspiration to snuff out gratitude. Enlarge gratitude by paying attention to small benefits.
Wisdom is persistently reaching high and expressing gratitude for imperfect progress at the same time.
Allow aspiration and gratitude to co-exist. When aspiration drives out gratitude, teams grow exasperated.
#2. Celebrate small.
- A smile.
- A warm handshake.
- An ordinary task done well.
Enlarge gratitude by frequently expressing it.
Unexpressed gratitude is ungratefulness.
Don’t wait to feel thankful to practice gratefulness.
Say thank you, even though you’re not the one being served.
- The teenager who is doing a great job washing windows.
- The employee who stays busy when nobody’s watching.
- The new leader who lifts her head to see how others are doing.
- The flight attendant who gave her seat to a disabled passenger. (She was deadheading and had a seat with extra leg room.)
#3. Believe in purpose.
Gratitude is more about belief than circumstances. Believe you have an imperfect contribution to make.
- Forget what you could have done.
- Let go the need for immediate results.
- Understand breakthroughs are often the result of endurance in obscurity, not dramatic one time events.
Gratitude is a practice that transforms life over time. It won’t instantly erase painful memories, for example. But, it may ignite glimpses of happiness quickly.
Gratitude makes you bigger.
What prevents us from expressing gratitude?
How might you find gratitude?
Note: This post was originally published 11/26/2015
Infrequently expressed gratitude can and often does come across as manipulative or guilt driven. Sincere gratitude is a product of culture.
Dan especially in a business or life Crisis, expressing gratitude goes a long way. When my old firm was in a three year financial restructuring we would call our advisors and even our adversaries and leave a voicemail thanking them for the progress we made that day. A little gratitude in bad situations goes a very long way!
An appropriate Thanksgiving post,
Brad
Brad James
Truly, living a life full of gratitude opens doors of insight one never thought existed
Dan, I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving with great time with friends and family, and good food. Great post this morning. Great point that a attitude of gratitude helps transform us first. Yes, it will impact those around us, but the impact it will have on us will be real.
Yes, thanking our Almighty Creator too keeps us more humble and grateful! Yes, thank other people too, the store clerk, cashier, doctor, nurse, police, military, firemen, neighbors, others! Be a blessing!
I’m grateyou wrote this from your heart, mind, soul
An approach I use is to go into the work place or gathering place where the people are and thank the person or people for her/his/their contribution with sincerity on a daily basis. Keeping it low-key is effective.