How to Cultivate Gratitude

In my last post, I discussed why gratitude is important. In this post, I'll discuss how to cultivate it.

Tips to Cultivate Gratitude

Gratitude is a mental practice. The good news is that you can train your brain to be grateful just like you can train your muscles to lift heavy weights -- it just takes repetition.

Here are my tips to cultivate gratitude:

Journal

Each day, write something you're grateful for. Doing this every day makes it into a habit.

Include the little things

Be sure to express gratitude for "minor" things like your clothes, a pen, the air you breathe. Why? Because these things matter! They are overlooked, and your people feel overlooked, also. As leaders, we too often fail to appreciate the little things which are so important.

Go on a gratitude walk

Get outside. As you notice things in your environment, say "thank you" to them. "Thank you" sidewalk. "Thank you" birds flying by."

This trains you to notice what's around you and to make gratitude your first thought.

Be grateful for the difficult things

Gruff-voiced navy SEAL Jocko Willink, author of "Extreme Ownership," is perhaps the last person you think of when it comes to something as squishy as gratitude. But Jocko talks about responding to adversity with a simple statement: "good."

Raining outside? Good.

Didn't get the job? Good.

Car won't start? Good.

Why are these things "good"? Because they are an opportunity to rise above. They are an opportunity to train yourself to be better. They are feedback from the world that you can use. They will discourage other people but if you persevere, you can gain an advantage. They can force you to grow.

Be grateful for adversity because it can harden you for MORE difficult times in the future. This builds the resilience you need to weather tough times.

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Have a "gratitude minute" in your meetings

At the start of each regular meeting with your team, hold what I call a "gratitude minute." Here's how it works:

1. Each person takes a turn
2. During your turn, you share with the group something you're grateful for.
3. It could be work-related or not.
4. If could be directed at a specific person, a specific action, or just gratitude for something you've noticed recently, like the spring flowers coming up or a beautiful painting.
5. As the leader, you should go first until the team gets the hang of it.

The gratitude minute does a couple of important things:

1. It trains your team to be grateful, generally.
2. It starts the meeting off positively.
3. It gets people talking, so they'll be more likely to contribute in the meeting
4. If gives people encouragement to appreciate each other, which is amazingly beneficial for the giver and receiver of the gratitude.

Conclusion

Gratitude is incredibly important for leaders. But it takes practice. Try these tips to become more grateful and to set an example for those on your team!

Mike Lyons is an HR professional and consultant in the Austin, TX area. He can be found at TXHRGuy.com and on LinkedIn.