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Why practicing daily gratitude will help you become successful
Is it unrealistic to think that gratitude could play an important role in our success? I don’t think so. The whole reason for practicing gratitude is to focus your mind on the things in life you’re grateful for. By changing our state of mind we’re more likely to take the positive actions needed to achieve our daily goals. This is why I started my daily gratitude journal.
Gratitude is somewhat rare in our culture
Maybe your daily goal is just to be more grateful, after all this is the main outcome we’re trying to achieve here. However gratitude can lead to many other great things which in turn will make it more likely for you to achieve any others goals you may have. You see gratitude is somewhat rare in our culture, never stopping for a moment to appreciate the things we have or the people we love in our life. It’s only natural for us to behave in this way. Most people are focused on what lies ahead, with many daily, weekly and monthly tasks to complete. This is OK, we all need to have daily tasks or goals for the future but once we get there, once we achieve whatever it is that needs to be done we rarely stop and appreciate it, we move quickly onto the next thing. If you’re anything like me the list is always long so the focus moves straight to the next thing on my list. This is a constant process and it’s important to break this cycle by practicing gratitude daily. It doesn’t change what still needs to be done, but trust me you’ll feel less pressure and stress if you take the time to practice gratitude. The many impressive benefits to the simple act of writing down the things for which we’re grateful include better sleep, less chance of illness and more happiness. It’s surprising that we wouldn’t all jump at the chance to practice daily gratitude if these were the potential benefits. I think it’s also important to mention the importance of writing down, on paper, what you’re grateful for. Just running through a list in your head is not going to give you the full benefit. When you think about it and then put it down on paper it becomes real. I’ll explain a little more about this below.
If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” – Oprah Winfrey
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All too regularly we start our day solely focused on all the things we’re unhappy about. How do you think this mindset will affect your day? It’s so important to change this pattern if you want your days to take a different path. One where you feel a sense of gratitude right from the start, putting yourself in the best state of mind to take positive actions and in turn highly increase your chance of your day becoming a success. If we want to start a daily gratitude journal the first step is finding the right time of day, and for me it has to be first thing in the morning. You have to focus on yourself first, before you start your day if you want to feel the full benefit of gratitude. Buy yourself a small book or even just use a piece of paper which I did at the start. This is now your daily gratitude journal. Find a quiet place and think about what you’re grateful for in that moment. As each one pops into your head write it down. There are no rules here, everyone is different and there is no good or bad number you’re trying to reach. For me I always have around “ten” items on my daily list. I’ll give you a few ideas below.
Daily gratitude journal ideas 1. Grateful to see my family today who I miss so much 2. Grateful for this day, a chance to grow and be inspired 3. Grateful for my girlfriend who love and cares for me. 4. Grateful to live in a fantastic area and live in a beautiful apartment. 5. Grateful for my health, without this none of the above would be possible.
This is just an example but you get the idea. At first it might seem a little strange but after a few tries you’ll start thinking of so many things you’re grateful for. Now you have your list I want you to read each item on your list and really think about it. If it’s about time with your family then think about this, what did you do, how did it feel and really appreciate this. If your partner/girlfriend is on your list then spend a minute to think about all the ways they love and care for you. Can you see how going through this process would give you a whole different appreciation for what you currently have to be grateful for? This is easily forgotten in our busy day to day lives. I go through this process myself and it’s one of the first things I do and if not it’s diffidently something I do before leaving the house to start my day. If you give this a try you’ll quickly see how your state of mind changes from one of “need/want” to one of “gratitude” and it’s really powerful stuff. You’re going to start your day focused on all things good and positive which will make it highly likely that you’ll carry this feeling throughout your day. Gratitude won’t remove all problems you face on a daily basis, nor will it remove the list of things you need to do, but it will give you an appreciation for all the things you currently have to be grateful for. I believe this makes tackling your tasks easier and obtaining your goals more likely. What do you have to lose? If nothing else you’ll be more grateful for all that’s good in your life.
As I’ve mentioned already I keep a daily gratitude journal myself. This is part of a morning routine designed to give me the best possible start to my day. If you would like to know what the other parts of my morning routine are you can check out my previous post “How successful people start their day”. This has really helped me and I think it can help you too.
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I hope you have enjoyed this article. If you would like to leave a comment below I’d be most grateful. It’s always nice to receive feedback. You can also connect with me via my social media links on this page.
Best of luck on your journey
Jon Petrou-Daily gratitude journal-Top of page
This entry was posted in self improvement, Uncategorized. Tags: business, goals, gratitude, successful people � Previous Post
About Jonathan Petrou Hi everyone, I'm 32 years old and currently living in Berlin. I'm originally from London and arrived in Berlin via Amsterdam where i spent four great years of my life. l moved to Berlin with my girlfriend for a new adventure. New city, new apartment & new jobs. After arriving in Berlin I had what you might say was a "Wake Up Call". Realising the career I was trying to create for myself was not what I wanted, not something i was passionate about. I was really not happy and finding my new life in Berlin very hard going. I decided to draw a line in the sand and made a commitment to myself that I was going to make some changes. Find my purpose, my passion and make some changes, but most importantly not allow myself to return to the place that had made me so unhappy. So... I"m now trying to make some big changes in my life and as I do this I would like to motivate and inspire people to do the same. This is the reason for the my blog. Change is hard at the best of times, people need support, so as I grow, learn and make progress i want to share my experiences in the hope of helping others do the same.
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