How Practicing Gratitude Can Change Your Business

You don’t have to remind me, life as a business owner can be chaos… to say the least.

As business owners, we’re trained to keep moving. When something happens, we address it and continue on… fast! 

The thought of adding any extra time to our already hectic schedule to do something for ourselves seems totally ridiculous. “Sarah, I’ve got things to do, I’ve got a business to run!”, believe me, I hear you. 

But, this may just help you be more present in your business and it can take less than 10 minutes! 

According to brain research, positive emotions like gratitude can benefit our bodies and minds. Instead of worrying about what we don’t have, or haven’t yet achieved, focusing on what we do have allows us to relax and be present. 

Pausing to send gratitude for even the smallest of things in a situation rewires our brain to move past objections, find creative solutions, and ultimately become better business owners. 

Sound like something you’re ready to try? 

Here are 5 easy ways to practice gratitude…

Write Down Someone You’re Grateful To Have In Your Life & Why.

How often do you think “gosh, I’m lucky to have them” about a friend or loved one? Writing down why you’re grateful for that person can help your relationship with them also! Don’t worry, you don’t need to tell them, but I’m sure it would be a lovely surprise if you did.  

Make A Gratitude Ritual

This can look different in every household. It could be that every night while you’re eating dinner you share something that went well in your day. Or, before you go to sleep you can note something that wasn’t the greatest but you found the good in it. 

Express Your Appreciation

When something happens that makes you feel grateful, express it in the moment. If someone helps you out, really make it known that you appreciate them. 

If someone does something nice for you, like hold the door, you may even be able to “pay it forward”.

Look Back With Gratitude

Write down something that happened to you in the past that you didn’t necessarily feel grateful for at the time, but now think of with gratitude. 

Or, Do It Tony Robbins Style

I saw a CNN article a few years back that reports Robbins breaks his morning gratitude practice into thirds. 

For the first three minutes, Robbins thinks about three things he’s grateful for. He told Tim Ferriss, “I make sure that one of them is very, very simple: The wind on my face, the reflection of the clouds that I just saw,”

He then focuses on “feeling the presence of God, if you will, however you want to language that for yourself. This inner presence coming in and feeling it heal everything in my body, in my mind, my emotions, my relationships, my finances. I see it as solving anything that needs to be solved.”

Lastly, he visualizes what he calls his “three to thrive” (the three things that he’s going to make happen that day). “I see it as though it’s already been done,” he tells Ferriss.

Take a moment each day to notice what you’re appreciative for, and let me know in the comments how you feel!