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What you’ll learn in this episode:
Researchers have found that gratitude has a significant impact on both our physical and mental well-being and can be linked to everything from mood to blood pressure, to heart rate, to sleep.
As entrepreneurs we’re always looking for new tools to increase our success. From time management tools to tips and tricks, to the next best social media management tool, being on the hunt for the next thing to catapult us forward can be a part-time job on its own.
But one of the most overlooked tools for success that I’ve seen is incorporating gratitude into your success plan.
In today’s episode, I’m sharing 3 ways to incorporate gratitude into your business plan so you can start building more momentum, joy and positivity into your business.
Here’s a glance at this episode:
- Why gratitude is not always top of mind for business owners
- How to use habit building and routines to increase gratitude
- Why even 5 minutes a day can be enough to create bigger results
- How your body can be the best tool for exercising gratitude
- Resources that you can use to help assist you in your gratitude practice (links in the show notes)
Mentioned in this episode:
Work/Connect with me:
Consults That Convert FREE Training
[0:01] Well, hello, everyone, and welcome to this week’s episode of the It’s Your Offer Podcast. I’m Jess Miller and I’m excited to be here with you to talk about one of our last episodes of the year and a really important topic when we think about success in business, and creating a business that thrives. And that is around the topic of gratitude and having gratitude as part of your business plan.
[0:28] So as entrepreneurs, we’re always looking for new tools to increase our success, whether it’s time management, or tips and tricks, or the best social media management tool. Being on the hunt for the next thing to catapult us forward can be almost a part time job on its own. But one of the most overlooked tools for success that I’ve seen is incorporating gratitude into your business plan. Researchers have found that gratitude has a significant impact on both our physical and mental wellbeing, and can be linked to everything from mood, to blood pressure to heart rate to the quality of your sleep. So why is it that this is often the last thing we give our time and energy to as it relates to our business? As a parent, I find myself reminding my kids of gratitude all the time, say thank you when someone gives you something, or remember to say please when asking for something, it’s always something that we are, or at least I am, instilling in my children to be grateful and to offer gratitude in all types of areas of their life. But as an adult, I find that we are almost never reminded about gratitude.
[1:43] Do you notice that it’s like as we get older, those reminders, or this idea that you should be grateful becomes almost less and less. And for most of us unless we make it in an intentional part of our day, we can very easily never think about it. From dealing with the day to day demands we face and just kind of the run of the mill things that are going on to the things that we thought would go one way maybe for our business or in our life and possibly turned out in a way we really didn’t expect. Gratitude can feel like a sentiment long forgotten. I want to offer though, that if we want to create momentum and success, it creating like a kind of tailwind behind our business, incorporating gratitude into our business is a must. Because when gratitude is something you add to the mix, and that mix of your business plan and your success plans, it acts as a catalyst to all your actions and intentions, making them more powerful and much, much more meaningful.
[2:47] So the question then becomes how do we best do that? How do we make gratitude a part of our day-to-day plan? Well, today, I’m going to share with you the three ways that I do this, and how you can start doing this immediately. Because whether or not you’re a seasoned gratitude professional, someone who thinks about it all the time, or maybe this is the reminder, you need to make it more part of your business, you can start doing these things right away, you don’t need to be a special snowflake. And you don’t need to have any special powers. It’s within all of us to incorporate this as a really integral part of your business success plan. So let’s jump right into it.
[3:25] So number one, when it comes to incorporating gratitude into your business plan is to make gratitude a habit and a part of your daily routine. We have all heard about the power of habits. If you have not read the book, Atomic Habits by James Clear, I recommend that you give this to yourself as a gift and you go out and you buy the book immediately. It is such a powerful book about habits. And it’s really an easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones. habits and routines become a part of our just existence, our life. And the more that you can incorporate and build habits and routines around the things that you want to be doing. And break those habits and routines around the things that you don’t want to be doing, the easier it becomes to fool your life with the intentional things that get you to where you want to go. So making gratitude a habit and part of your daily routine is one of the first things that I believe will have the biggest impact into this being part of your business plan. In a, dare I say, an easy and useful way.
[4:38] So I want to share a story with you of where I learned the power of routines and habits at a young age. So as a young 20 something year old, I was a runner and I still do run sometimes but I don’t run nearly as much as I used to when I was younger. And at the time I was living actually out in Indianapolis. I was working for a company I’d moved out there on like without a wing and a prayer right out of college and I was offered a position with a company that I absolutely loved. And so here I was a young 22-year-old, moving into this apartment with literally nothing, I will never forget moving out of my parents’ house. And I had, I think a desk, a dresser, and a bunch of boxes. And I think that literally was it, I had so little things to move that when the car came that the trailer came to pick up my stuff and move me out there, they kind of looked at the stuff looked at me and then looked at my car, I had a little Saturn sedan at the time. And they kind of like looked at me and looked at the car. And they actually instead of towing the car, behind the tractor trailer, they drove the car like up into like the cab of this tractor trailer because I had basically nothing to put in there. So I really did go out there on a wing and a prayer.
[5:52] But anyway, back to my running. One of the things that I did for myself was that I would go running a lot and I would go running before work at this new job. I like to get in there really early at like 730 in the morning, I it helped me just get into the day sooner. And I was able to beat the traffic and all the things. So I would get in there really early. So I would want to go running in the morning before I went to work. Because if I found that if I left it to the end of the day, it just wouldn’t happen. I don’t know if any of you have ever experienced this, if you were runners especially, or you did any sort of exercise, I just tend to like, you know, front loading that. So the problem was it required me to get up at five o’clock in the morning. And I don’t know about many of you but for many of us, we may not really be conditioned to get jump out of bed and spring out of bed especially to go and do a run like a three or five mile run at five o’clock in the morning. And so what I found was that in order to make this part of my morning routine, I had to remove all of the obstacles. And I had to set up a system and kind of create this habit around being able to do that easily. And so what I used to do was on those days, when I wanted to go running, I would actually go to sleep in my running clothes. Literally, I had on you know, all my running outfit, my sports bra, the whole thing I would go to sleep. And then in the morning when that alarm went off, literally all I needed to do was get out of bed and put on my running sneakers and walk out the door.
[7:23] And I found that being able to do that. And getting into that routine of doing that and getting into the habit of running in the morning, changed everything for me. And one of the things it did was it started to it became really enjoyable, I felt so accomplished that it was done. I felt good in my body because I was exercising, it just allowed me to show up in the world the way I wanted to not to mention when you get your blood pumping that much of all this energy in the morning.
[7:50] The other thing that it did, which was so powerful is it helped me step into this identity, that I was a person that if I just created this consistent routine or habit, I could do literally anything that I wanted in my business, in my career or in my life. And it really solidified this idea of habits and daily routine. If you have read Atomic Habits, or you’ve just heard from James Clear, one of the most impactful things he says in this book is that you don’t rise to your goals, you fall to the level of your systems. And those systems are what create those habits in your life, which allow you to create the things that you want. So making gratitude a habit or part of your daily routine means that where can you create this structure around, making gratitude part of your day, that’s going to make it simple. So if that means like, maybe you’re going to spend a few minutes in the morning, offering gratitude or being thankful for some things, or maybe before you go to sleep at night, you might spend five minutes doing that. Or maybe you might plan to send one person, you know, each day a thank you note or whatever it is, you know, how do you create a habit or a routine around this? And where do you create those structures and systems that really instill that habit into your life.
[9:11] So that first piece is making gratitude part of your business plan. And your life plan requires building a habit or a routine around it, so that you can make it part of your day in a way that just becomes automatic. It becomes sort of on autopilot.
[9:29] So for all of you listening to this, I want you to take a second and I want you to think about where can you incorporate this into your daily schedule. What is one small thing that you could do that will move you closer to making gratitude and in central part of your day? Where can you create this habit and again, they could be putting it first thing in the morning putting it at the end of the day. Incorporating it somewhere on your calendar doesn’t matter. But how do you start to build this routine and this habit around gratitude so it’s not this thing that you think about last or that kind of as a byproduct of what it is that you’re doing.
[10:06] The second thing is that you can give gratitude as little as five minutes a day. And watch how it compounds over time. We think there’s this misconception that things that have a big impact on our outcomes, or on our life need to take a lot of time and effort, I would have to say that this is one of the number one things along with, you know, creating a thriving business and being able to be the steward of whatever dreams you want, create any amount of money that you want, do the things in your business that are hell yes, create those offers work with those people. The other thing that I am equally passionate about is debunking this idea that things that are a big impact, or that we really want take a lot of time and effort. This cannot be more true. And I think if you’re somebody like me, who is kind of a little bit of that type A personality, or you like being in the momentum and the motion of creating things, and creating results and seeing things happen, the idea that something has to be really hard or take a long time, or that you need to wait a really long time for it to transpire in my opinion, is synonymous with like shackling your leg to a wall. And I think I’ve said this in a lot of podcast episodes, because it’s just so descriptive of how I think it feels when you want to go and you want to create things, and someone is telling you that you can’t and it’s slowing you down.
[11:40] Things that create impact and results are intentional decisions and intentional actions that are aligned with where you want to go. And so just like anything else, gratitude is one of those things where giving it the time, the intentional time that you want. And doing that consistently, is what creates this part of your business, this part of your life, the results that come from being grateful. And it doesn’t have to take a long time.
[12:15] I’ll share with you a story about meditation, anyone listening to this podcast that may have had the experience of like I did, where they heard about meditation, they heard about the benefits of it. And just the idea of sitting still, for a very long time trying to quiet your mind seemed so overwhelming. I don’t know if I’m the only person on the planet that has experienced this. But I was totally bought into the idea of meditating, I loved the idea of getting still I love the idea of all the positive things that came out of it. But this idea that I had to find an hour a day and then sit still in that somehow or still my mind for all that time was daunting. And I put it off forever and ever and ever. Until one day I was talking to a friend, and they said to me, you don’t need to sit there for an hour for it to be worthwhile. You could sit there for five minutes. And oh, by the way, you don’t need to just sit there alone. There’s this great app called Headspace. Have you heard of it? And I said, No. What are you talking about? And she’s like, oh, yeah, I’ll send you, I think at the time, there was like a free week or something, you could invite people to it. So she sent me this app Headspace. If any of you have never heard of that, you totally need to check it out. And you go into this app, and there were meditations for anywhere from like two to five, took longer. If you wanted to 30-60 minutes, you could meditate sort of alone with guided meditation or not. You could meditate at the same time other people were meditating. So you’re all meditating together. It was this incredible, incredible thing.
[12:16] And the most powerful part for me was that you didn’t have to meditate for 60 minutes for it to be beneficial. And so what did I do, I sat down, and I meditated for two minutes. And then two minutes became five minutes and five minutes became 10 minutes. And I will never forget the day when I was sitting there thinking, oh my gosh, I’m so sad that this is over. And it’s been, you know, it’s been 10 minutes already. And it was really, really fascinating. How this shaped, again, reinforced this idea that you can get so much benefit and you can move your life in the direction that you want without it taking a long time. So similar to meditation, in my opinion, gratitude can only need to take a couple of minutes, I was gifted a gratitude journal. It’s called The Five-Minute Gratitude Journal. I’ll put the link both to Headspace and to The Gratitude Journal in the show notes. But it’s called The Five-Minute Gratitude Journal and it’s by Sophia Godkin. And it’s really focused on giving things practicing positivity and finding joy.
[14:50] Let me tell you, it is a game changer. You literally have a page for each day you put the date in there, whatever you want to do, and it’s a series of prompts. And in five minutes or less, it literally forces you to think about what you’re grateful for, it kind of holds the space for you. And it’s so great. And it’s so awesome to reflect on it. And in five minutes or less, you do it. And the beautiful thing about this consistent gratitude is a compound on itself over time.
[15:23] So what starts as five minutes starts to become a routine and a habit. And then guess what happened, you’re thinking about what you’re grateful for all the time. Because once you think these things, they kind of become anchored in your conscious brain. And then it really starts to follow you around. So this is really something I want to implore to you to think about how can you in as little as five minutes a day, make gratitude part of it right? When you’re thinking about these routines? Can you do it in a few minutes, right? Can you write in the gratitude journal? For example? Could you spend two minutes meditating and thinking about the things that you’re grateful for? I know, there are some excellent meditations in that in the Headspace app around things like that.
[16:10] But it doesn’t have to be Headspace. It could be anything. Could you write a, you know, letter of thanks to one person every day, you know, just an email, it will take you two minutes to write it. And it could just say something as little of that. Dear Susie, you know, I’m so grateful that we get to work together. And I really appreciate you know, how much support you give me. And I just wanted to let you know, love Jessica, right? It could take three seconds. So how can you do that where you’re giving as little as five minutes, and then allowing that thing to compound over time.
[16:42] And then the third thing is, you want to feel into it. The best thing about being grateful is how good it feels. As I’ve mentioned on the podcast many times before, thanks to Martha Beck, who is amazing, is that your body is a compass, it really is a compass. And when do you really feel into these things. And gratitude is one of those things that feels so great. It opens you up to so much information, it allows you to feel forward and navigate through some of these things, not from your head so much, but from your body, where your body is sending you all these signals. So as you do these things, as you think about gratitude, as you put it as part of your plan, where and how you incorporate, it can be as simple as what feels the best to you. I also want to offer that when you’re in a state of gratitude, when you feel grateful, you literally start vibrating on a different frequency. And I know that that sounds a little woowoo, maybe to some people, but let’s just call a spade a spade here, which is when you’re in gratitude, you feel totally different, you act totally different, you engage with other people in a very different way. And for me personally, when I’m in that feeling of gratitude, it opens up this feeling like this expansive feeling like I am connecting to everybody and everything in a very different and much, much more powerful way.
[18:17] I also feel like that when I’m in that space where I’m grateful I have this clarity about what I want and what moves me and what moves my business and my clients. And I believe that when you’re vibrating on that frequency, when you’re giving out that energetic vibe to others, you attract people that are complementary to that vibe. And if you read or think about any of the Law of Attraction information that’s out there, it’s talking about this thing, right? This this frequency and vibing on the same frequency. And I believe if you’re putting that out into the world, that is what you’re gonna get back. And that’s also how you attract the people to you that you want to work with that you want to surround yourself with, that need your help, that are looking for the same things that you are, I really believe that. So feeling into that is really important.
[19:11] I also believe that when you’re in gratitude, you connect to your bigger purpose. It really gives us that moment to shed all that superficial, you know, energy and feeling and thoughts that are not serving us and really tap into what it is that we really want what it is we want to be creating, and, frankly, what we’re destined for, and I believe going into that space, and thinking about and feeling it in your body allows you to connect to that bigger, bigger purpose.
[19:41] So just to recap the three ways that I believe that you can incorporate more gratitude into your business plan into your success plan is number one, make gratitude a habit and part of your daily routine.
[19:56] Number two, give gratitude as little as five minutes a Day. And watch how that consistency compounds over time does not need to take a lot of time. And it does not need to be hard or take a lot of effort. It just can be as little as five minutes.
[20:10] Number three, use your body as a compass and feel into it. Go toward what feels good to you. Be grateful for those things. Focus in on those things, and let it move you and connect you to the people you want to be around and your bigger purpose. As you’re listening to this, I want you to go back to each step in this podcast, and spend a few minutes mapping out how you can implement this going forward. It is so worth your time and energy and I promise you, not only will it affect your results, but it will feel amazing. And on top of all of that something incredible happens when we tap into being grateful. It not only changes our lives and our business, but it affects everyone and everything around us in a positive way. Now, what is better than that? So walk through each step and make it a part of your business plan.
