Playbook Chronicles 

In a world of give me, give me...and give me now, it is sometimes hard to slow down and take a moment to be thankful. To go from griping to gushing. But without gratitude, any kind of achievement is, well, just empty.

I work with hundreds of clients and some have experienced really amazing success over the last year or so-despite what is categorized as a down economic time. Yet, these clients do not feel as if they are successful. They feel as if something is missing.

Something is missing. Gratitude.

Each of us, in business and in our personal lives, are looking for the bigger better thing. The next great investment or achievement. There is nothing wrong with this (well, except if you are looking for the bigger better thing in your spouse... that, unfortunately, is a topic we won't be discussing).   There is nothing wrong with striving. With always looking to improve and achieve. As a matter of fact, if you are not striving or growing, then you are dying. However, things go wrong when you forget to celebrate along the way.

Many years back, an employee told me, after our team had moved up national rankings ten spots, that I forget to recognize the first downs. I was excited we had moved up, but we still weren't number one yet and I may have pointed that out...a few times. This employee reminded me, that if we didn't celebrate the first downs along the way, then the touchdown wouldn't mean much.

She was right. From that day forward I made, and still do, it a point to celebrate each first down.

Live as if you feel gratitude

When a client tells me they don't have much to be grateful for, I completely scoff. Inside of course. Then I take some time with the client going over things that we all forget to be grateful for. Even if it is the breath we take. My advice to those that can't find their gratefulness; live as if you feel gratitude and the real thing will follow.  Just by 'pretending' to be grateful, you are actually raising chemicals in your body such as dopamine and serotonin that help create feelings of contentment. Yes, I am telling you to, "fake it till you make it" in your gratitude.

Write it down

Keep a log of what you feel grateful for. This is not idle advice. It is not just for those heading toward depression. This is for all of us. Even us business people. Write it down. Studies' show that people who write down what they are grateful for are 25% more happier. So just by writing it down, you will increase your chance of happiness by 25%. What do you have to lose? It can be as simple as a piece of paper that you reference, or a fancy journal. But write it down, and visit it daily. Yes daily. Add to it, edit it, mediate over it, whatever; just take the time to do it.

Do something

I try to be a grateful 'person' everyday. Even in moments of frustration, I try to find the silver lining, something to be thankful for in the situation. Despite this, I have found, that when I do something for others, I am filled with a joy and gratefulness that cannot be topped. Whether it is serving in a homeless shelter, going out of my way to give a special thank you to someone else, giving extra praise to extraordinary people, etc. By doing something for someone else, it raises our own level of pleasure- not to mention the other person's too.

Visualize it

I have a dream board. Yes I do. It is a board of things that I would like to achieve or accomplish, and as I achieve, I take those things down and put them in my grateful journal to celebrate (each one is a first down for me to celebrate now).   To remind me. Sometimes, we forget (remember above?) what we have accomplished and having these visual reminders triggers the initial emotions of joy.

Final thoughts 

Whether you are doing well in business and life, or whether you are not and are trying to figure out why, one can apply the above action items. In all my years of working with individuals and companies, I find more and more, the reason for lack of success (or feeling of success) is not due to product, or the economy, or the 'other' people, it is due to an individuals' own belief system. And a person's own belief system has to have gratefulness as a number one feeling. Find the time to be grateful. "He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has".  ~Epictetus