12 Key Attitudes for Success: Attitude to Gratitude

3 – Attitude to Gratitude

Success can often be a lonely journey to achieve, and there are many bumps along the way, but a really powerful psychological tool that I have found makes a huge difference to how we see our world. And as we shift our attitude to our world with gratitude, the pathway to success somehow seems smoother.

One of the tools the Sandler Sales Training Process introduced to me was a "Gratitude Journal". The key is to look at what you can be grateful for every day… and write it down. Writing it down has a powerful effect on moving it from a thought into an action and building that muscle memory and the mind memory of repeatedly doing it so that you strengthen the gratitude neural pathway. Some people also speak it out loud.

What does an attitude journal look like?

To my mind, there are four things you need to offer gratitude for every day.

Gratitude for a good thing that has happened.

However small, identify the good thing that has happened to you in the last 24 hours. It could be somebody being kind to you. It could be something that was a success. It could be something about how you are feeling. It could even be the weather or a nice meal you had. However small, there is always something that you can give gratitude for. On those days when it's a much bigger thing, then make sure you don't miss it.

Gratitude for the opportunities that you have

It is very easy to be bogged down by limiting beliefs around what opportunities you have. But as you build your success, the opportunity that you often need to move to the next level of success can be quite small. Being grateful for the number of opportunities to frame that attitude to opportunity is extremely important. This is particularly important when you are knocked back when a particular opportunity doesn't convert into the outcome you hope for.

Let me give you a concrete example. Let us say that the success you are looking for is to find one more client. Gratitude for the opportunity means considering the whole scale for clients. It may be that in the UK you know that 1000s of possible clients could benefit from your services. Or you know that the market for your services is 10s of ￡millions, and all you are looking for is ￡5-100k. Now, you are reframing your opportunity and offering gratitude for the scale of your opportunity. You may have to be quite creative in finding something around that opportunity for which you can be grateful. However, looking at the total scope of opportunities that are accessible because of who you are. Consider, "I am someone with these skills and this experience and this particular knowledge which gives me opportunities". By being grateful for your skills, knowledge and experience, you are strengthening your awareness of your worth.

Gratitude for your environment

The third thing to be grateful for is something around your environment. Perhaps the people around you, the setting you are living in, the village, town or city you are a part of.

Gratitude about who you are.

We can often fail to be grateful for ourselves. We can fail to recognise the strengths that we have. Putting into your gratitude journal something about being grateful about who you are, you are affirming your identity beyond the circumstances you may face.

Building the Gratitude Journaling Habit

There are a few tips on how to write your attitude journal. The items above are possible items you can have gratitude for. However, it is very easy for it just to become a thoughtless rote exercise. The risk is you just copy and paste what you had the day before. This undermines the power of the process. I would suggest that you examine each of these four categories. Now, think of what you could be grateful for today. Maybe it is something you haven't been thankful for recently. Or something for which you can be grateful for the first time. Even if it is something you've been grateful for in the past, I would strongly recommend that you reword it so that you're having to think about it.

To strengthen your habit, find between 2 and 4 people with whom you can share your gratitude journal. Encourage them to do a gratitude journal that they share with you.

Now, you have promised to send your gratitude journal out to others, and you may also be encouraged by the gratitude journals they send you. Often, they will offer you feedback on your gratitude journal. It's a great way of connecting and feeling amongst other people going on their journey with you.

Gratitude Beyond the Journal

In summary, do not underestimate gratitude's power as a key attitude for success. A gratitude journal is a great way of offering it. But the journal is not the only context in which you offer gratitude. Making a habit of saying 'thank you' to people as you come across them during the day will shift your attitude to gratitude. It will also create a better environment around you. Be grateful to the people you live with, those you serve, and those you meet in the shops. In every circumstance, seek opportunities to give thanks and be grateful; that positivity you offer to others will be reflected in you in most cases.

Sometimes a thank you is enough, but often offering gratitude not just for what somebody has done but the way they've done it and, even more powerfully, what about their identity makes that act something they can also be so grateful for.

Increasing Gratitude Power: What ->How->Who

Let me give you a simple example. I could say to somebody:

"Thanks for this food" – a very simple thanks for?their actions.

I could say:

"Thanks for serving this food with such a wonderful smile." It's a simple thank you for?how?they've done it.

Or, most powerfully, I could say:

"Thank you for being a wonderful cook" – something about?who?they are.

The more powerful the offer of thanks you make, the stronger the positive connection you will get, and the more connection you will feel, enhancing your whole mental attitude to your future.

We will talk about your attitude to failure in a later article. Gratitude is a powerful tool to avoid feeling like a victim of failure.

Summary

Develop the habit of keeping a gratitude journal, sharing your gratitude journal with others, and offering gratitude to those you meet, graduating from gratitude for?what,?how, and?who.?Then, notice how gratitude can be a powerful vaccination against the worst effects of failure.