Some leaders who have achieved high levels of success are unhappy and ungrateful.
They go through life with pessimism and a sense of emptiness.
They don’t express gratitude. They pass down their toxicity to other people, find faults on everything and everyone. Why is that?
It is safe to say that people who express gratitude in the workplace are seen as naive and weak. Are they really thou? Do they know something that we don’t?
Wondering what are the benefits of gratitude and how to improve your level of gratitude?
What is gratitude?
The expression of gratitude is both personal and universal. It depends on your cultural background, your systems of belief, your circumstances and your self-awareness.
Gratitude is a conscious choice.
Gratitude is acknowledging the value of someone or something, celebrating success after reaching our goals, choosing to see the positive in any situation and consciously remembering who helped you.
Being grateful is a thinking process that needs constant work. It is a demonstration of your character and your internal strength.
Gratitude is a perception of life.
It is appreciating what you have in life, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Gratitude is an emotion, an attitude, a habit.
To some, gratitude is directly linked to happiness. To others, it fosters complacency and selfishness.
Benefits of gratitude?
Some days are harder than others. Gratitude doesn’t make things magically go away. However, it puts things in perspective.
In addition, being grateful has the ability to:
- Increase your self-awareness. Gratitude will automatically influence your attitude, your character.
- Stabilize your health, manage your emotional intelligence and improve your self-esteem. Gratitude is a combination of your emotions and your state of mind.
- Increase your effectiveness, productivity and optimism.
- Build great and valuable relationships. You will also be seen as friendly, positive and much more approachable.
- Make others feel appreciated. Making people feel valued will in turn make you feel valuable.
- Promote empathy, resolve conflicts and successfully influence people.
- Help you recognize that a curse is in fact a blessing in disguise.
- Help you activate the laws of attraction. more opportunities will come to you naturally.
- Make the best of everything.
- Value and focus on the things that you do have.
- Help you enjoy your journey and find greater meaning in life.
- Energize you and help you experience positive emotions. It prevents depression and suppresses pride.
Through this practice, leaders build up a reservoir of positive energy.
How to improve your gratitude?
Gratitude is recognizing people for the things that they gift you, for the hurdles, the joys, for your past, present and future. To express your gratitude, practice these tips:
- Identify your strengths and weaknesses.
- Accept yourself for who you really are.
- Clarify your own goals and purpose. You will then know when to celebrate your success.
- Keep an open mind which means that you must be open to explore and to learn.
- Be sincere and positive. Avoid focusing on negativity in general.
- Show that you care and directly give thanks.
- Write down all the things that you are grateful for. You can also keep a personal journal. Then, you can memorize what you are grateful for so you can visualize it during hard times.
- Give yourself permission to be vulnerable, to emote and to speak your mind.
- Volunteer and give back to people.
- Engage in activities that are essential and beneficial to you.
- Maximize the opportunities that come your way.
- Learn from your painful experiences.
Gratitude is not a common emotion or state in the workplace.
Furthermore, nothing can make you feel demoralized and unappreciated like an ungrateful boss.
Nevertheless, at work, there are several opportunities to demonstrate gratitude: a motivated team, a respectful salary, expected results.
To nurture a culture of gratitude within your organization, it is important to exercise your muscle frequently :
- Lead by example and be genuine when expressing gratitude.
- Get to know your team.
- Help someone out once in a while.
- Acknowledge people’s success and offer rewards for a job well done.
- Sincerely compliment people once in a while.
- Encourage your team to always do their best.
- Provide frequent feedback.
What are the things that you are the most grateful for?
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
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