Gratitude as an Action

When I began discovering the power of appreciation I was overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start. The idea of it made sense but I didn’t know the actual, tangible ways to incorporate it into my life. If gratitude is a mindset, which by nature is a very broad perspective toward something, then how do you integrate a new one in a real way? That’s where a practice of taking consistent action comes in, and I want to share a few, real practices I’ve implemented to add gratitude to my life. 

First is to say thank you twice a day. Only twice a day. First thing you do when you wake up and the last thing you do before you go to bed. This is something I learned from David Meltzer. At one point I changed the title of the wake up alarm on my phone to say “Thank You” as a reminder.

Second is through journaling. Every day as part of my morning routine I sit down at my desk and write down 3 things I’m grateful for. This is something I learned from Mike Sherbakov. Again, starting your day with gratitude primes you to see opportunities to be grateful for the rest of the day.

And last, is to set a reminder randomly in the day. At 11:11 am every day I have a phone alarm that goes off, and it’s titled “Humble, grateful, dependable.” This is a tip I learned from Brendon Burchard. When it goes off I take a moment to be mindful of those 3 qualities that I hold as core principles, and to connect with them in a small way.

If you noticed, all 3 of those examples require only 30 seconds of work up front to change your environment and help trigger you to be grateful.