It’s Thanksgiving, so I thought it would be a nice break from “traditional business” to talk a little about integrating gratitude into your daily practices.
You might be surprised to hear that some of the most impactful things in business aren’t the best bookkeeping software or the top-of-the-line design software, but the soft skills that you fine-tune over the years that really impact your business.
While we hear gurus talk about how gratitude helps you and your business, a lot of the time it sounds like hokey-pokey stuff set up to convince you to buy their $647 course for $247 because it’s on some special sale. But gratitude can really help your business, here are some thoughts on how:
How does gratitude really help your business?
Gratitude is great for your business in so many ways, but most of all in my books, it makes me take a hard look at what’s going on and figure out the things that myself or someone else is doing that is really working. This is particularly the case where I find I’m thankful for something work-related, not something that made me forget about a bad workday.
But gratitude also helps us build strong, meaningful relationships with people who can help us grow. Those people might be clients or customers, but they might also be suppliers, advisors, colleges or people also operating in the same industry as you.
The truth is, you never really know who can positively affect your business. But I can tell you that gratitude can help you get there. All-in-all, when it comes down to it, it makes you an overall nicer person to be around. It also helps make sure you point out things directly to people when they make a difference for you.
What are you thankful for this year?
There are a ton of things to be thankful about, even if you’re having a particularly bad day, week or month. I like to do the small practice of writing down what I’m thankful for on a daily basis before I get started to remind myself that at the end of the day, no matter what I might face, there’s something good to think about out there.
I struggled with this in the beginning though. It’s hard to come up with something that doesn’t sound “stupid” or “silly” … that is until you realize at the end of the day it really doesn’t matter.
The thing about being thankful is that you don’t have to have some smart answer for what you’re thankful for. The other day I was thankful for The Princess Diaries 2 because it let me enjoy the genuine beauty of Chris Pine after a disappointing day. When it comes to being thankful, there’s no one to impress.
Looking for more small business insights?
- It’s Time to Raise Your Rates
- The Ins and Outs of Preparing for Black Friday
- 5 Common Small Business Accounting Mistakes to Avoid
Tae started out as a journalist before following the money into the corporate world. But it turns out that the grass isn’t always greener and now you can find her spending most of her time writing about all the things she loves. Namely, money, travel and business with a hefty dose of self-deprecating humor. She is a podcast fanatic, blogging aficionado and loves to find new ways to turn passions into cold hard cash!
