What would your life be like if you were more grateful?

Not chasing or replacing things in your life.

Not feeling like you have to have more to feel significant.

Take a second to think about it.

Now, think about what your life would be like if you could have more in your life by practicing daily gratitude.

You could get more at your job. You could have deeper relationships.

Everything that you want comes to you through gratitude.

Sounds too easy right?

Well, truth is, it is that easy.

But many of us do not believe things are easy. We have to make things much more difficult for ourselves.

We think complexity gives us notoriety when we accomplish things. If it's difficult, it must be worth it.

Not all things difficult are worthwhile. Relationships don't have to be difficult. Making money doesn't have to be difficult.

It could all be easy for us to have and receive.

All by practicing gratitude.

Now gratitude is one of those things that is a mainstay in anyone willing to change their life for the better.

It has to be the very foundation on which you build your new life.

Being grateful for the experiences you have now will create more for you in the future. I experienced this in my own life with my Dad.

I use to be mad at him. I use to blame him for not having money and not having healthy relationships.

If I could blame something on him, I would.

I took a lot of my teenage years and my twenties staying mad at him.

That was until I went on a road trip with him in 2020. It was on that trip I learned the power of gratitude.

It was a story my Dad shared with me about his friends.

For over 3 decades, my Dad had a group of men that he met in the church in which they established a brotherhood of sorts.

They went to retreats together. Had meals together. Vented to each other and went to visit each other during the holidays.

Their friendship was truly special.

In all the years I had known my dad, he never shared the depth and details of his friendships. I recognized in the moment with my Dad that what I always wanted with him was a deep connection.

That story was a representation of that.

And I am so grateful for that experience that it led to more moments with him which helped repair our relationship.

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When I started to apply the same gratitude I found with my dad to other areas of my life, things started to happen for me.

I bought a house. Invested in a second one. Met my amazing girlfriend. Had the biggest year of revenue in my business ever.

And landed a book deal with a publisher.

What transpired in those events I believe was a culmination of gratitude for the moments with my Dad and a letting go of my past.

This practice helped create an opportunity to have more space in my life for the things I did want.

Why Gratitude is the Answer.

In psychology research, gratitude is strongly associated with greater happiness. This is because feelings of gratitude help people feel more positive emotions.

And positive emotions allow us to deal with the ever-present challenges of daily life.

Gratitude gives us more leeway to cultivate love while empowering us to seek out goals.

Gratitude also is a powerful way for us to reduce resentment.

We all know someone in our lives who is resentful and constantly is blaming something in their life.

The system. People. Teacher. Coworkers.

There is always someone or something to blame because it's easy to point the finger outward instead of pointing it inward.

As Dr. David Hawkins mentions

"Blame is the world's greatest excuse."

Gratitude is the antidote to resentment. By choosing to be appreciative of what we have now, we can choose to take action to get to where we want to go.

Gratitude also helps with performance. A study in 2014 found that when an athlete experienced gratitude, their self-esteem increased and self-esteem is an essential component of high performance.

By cultivating gratitude in our lives, we can go for gold without putting our value on the line.

The Gratitude Framework

The Gratitude Framework is made up of 3 parts

1. Appreciation

2. Intention

3. Action

Let's dig in

Appreciation 

In order for us to cultivate gratitude, we must establish an appreciation for what we have.

This means that every single thing that you own in your possession. Every single experience that you've ever had in life. Every relationship you have had.

There must be appreciation around it. Every experience you have had happened for a reason.

You may never know in your lifetime why something happened the way it did but know that every experience is a lesson.

A lesson to learn.

If you can appreciate the experience, you will see the lesson. And when you learn the lesson, you will experience the growth necessary for you to get to where you want to go in life.

Growth in life comes from friction. Just like when you go to the gym, your muscles require resistance to get stronger and bigger.

One of the best ways to practice appreciation is to do the 5 quick hits exercise.

The 5 quick hits exercise is grabbing a pen and paper and writing down immediately the first 5 things that come to mind.

The key is not to think about this. You want to listen to your gut on what things you are appreciative of.

Once those five things come to you and you write them down, I want you to go through them and ask yourself,

"Why am I appreciative of this?

This question allows you to find something about the experience that has helped you or created an opportunity for you in life.

Intention

After you start to cultivate appreciation, this is where you can start looking toward the future.

You can start looking towards better times.

The thing about an intention is that in order for you to really cultivate more in your life, not only do you have to appreciate what you have, but you have to have an intention as to what more you wish to receive in your life as well.

Intention is about direction. It’s about purpose. Once I found deep appreciation for the things in my life, I started visualizing what more I wanted out of this life.

I created bigger goals for myself. Started getting more excited about the opportunity to have those things.

And I dug deep into my future self program to create gratitude and appreciation for my accomplishments (I’ll explain more about the program in a future post.)

The intention is having purpose and direction with where you want to go in life and using appreciation as that fuel to get exactly what you want.

I want you to think about appreciation as the fuel and intention is the vehicle. These two will help you move towards your goals much quicker

And if you're able to do that, then you can really have clarity on what's important to you. So again, appreciation is the fuel intention. Is the vehicle.  I know where you're going not why you're going there and let appreciation for everything that you have right now get you to where you want to go.

Action

If you use your newfound appreciation and intention to create more for your life, taking action is the first step.

I'm a big proponent of action because I see a lot of people not taking it.

I see a lot of people freezing up because they see action as an obstacle instead of a vehicle to getting what they want.

Indecisiveness is the fastest killer to getting what you want.

Nothing comes to you in life without action.

One of the most powerful frameworks I have used with clients and with myself is the One Next Thing.

The One Next Thing looks like this

The One Next Thing is simple. You start with the first thing you need to do to make progress toward your goal. Just focus on that. Nothing else.

Don’t worry about what you have to do 2,3, and 4 steps down the road. Just stay present on the current step.

Once you are on that step, ask yourself this simple question

“Now what do I do next?”

Here’s an example of this:

Let’s say you want to have deeper relationships with your friends. You identify the first step is hanging out with them in person.

The next step is to reach out to them and invite them to hang out.

Now identify the next step. Complete the step. Rinse and repeat.

Breaking down the process to get to your goal by taking only one step at a time will help you combat any indecision.

Indecision is the biggest killer to your goals.

Thinking through every single step at the same time can cause anxiety and frustration because you’re more focused on not making the wrong decision instead of making a decision.

Your future is predicated on this gratitude framework. Appreciating what you have now will help you prepare for what you will receive in the future.

Here’s to you and your future!

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My latest book, The Road Ahead and Miles Behind A Story of Healing and Redemption Between Father and Son is available for purchase.

About the Book

A story of a cross-country road trip taken during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Road Ahead and Miles Behind, shares the intricate yet beautiful nature between a father and son looking to reconcile their differences and amend a challenging past. 

The Road Ahead and Miles Behind is full of inspiring moments and perspectives that demonstrate the healing power of hard conversations with those you love. It's a story that will remind you it's never too late to have something with your parents.

Buy your copy on Amazon or Barnes and Noble