Hey savvy leaders! Welcome to episode 21.
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
One of my favorite quotes by Melody Beattie.
Top Women in Direct Sales Problem Solve for Their Teams
If you’re feeling tired or slightly burned out by being the person so many of your team members bring their frustrations to, or come to you with questions you know they can find the answers to themselves, it’s time for a reset. Let’s create a shift.
It’s so easy and understandable to get bogged down by these scenarios. You’re in a position where you tend to hear the frustrations. The things your team wishes could be different and yet you’re not in a position to change these things. Maybe sometimes you even agree. But it’s more up to your company than something within your realm of scope.
What is within your reach is how you sustain yourself, build yourself up, and create a shift. The answer: A Gratitude Reset.
The Difference A Gratitude Practice Makes for Women in Direct Sales
There is a difference between feeling grateful and practicing gratitude.
We can feel grateful in fleeting moments without practicing gratitude. Yet a gratitude practice develops a deep-seated internal shift where attention, focus, and needs drift away from us and onto others. Our thoughts and actions become embedded with that part of our business that calls us to work for something bigger than ourselves.
A gratitude practice is something you dedicate yourself to. You spend purposeful time, not a lot of time, but time and attention focusing on not only what you’re grateful for, but why you’re grateful for it.
An impactful way to do this is to keep a gratitude journal. Now, if you’re not into journaling, or if the word journal turns you off, pick a different word. This is simply too powerful to get hung up on a word that doesn’t resonate with you. Pick one that does.
For today’s conversation, I’m going to keep it simple and just say gratitude journal.
How Top Women in Direct Sales Start a Gratitude Practice
I invite you to start a daily practice of keeping a gratitude journal.
Here’s how to begin.
Use something you feel drawn to write in. Maybe it’s something you already have on hand. Maybe you want to go find something new. Don’t overthink it or let this step get in the way of starting.
But yes, you’ll use pen to paper because it’s much more personal and effective. Your handwriting is unique to you. It’s a more intimate experience to write than to type or use an electronic device.
At the end, or the beginning of every day, write down what you’re grateful for that day. Maybe it was an interaction with a person. Possibly an event. A big or small accomplishment. A moment in time from your day that comes to mind as you sit down to write.
Use the writing style that fits you best. A bullet list. Paragraphs. A few sentences. Story form. Maybe you like to draw. Some days you may use a combination of all of these styles. There are no rules or guidelines to this. Let it be what speaks to you most on any given day.
You’ll also write why you feel grateful for this person, event, or moment. This is the big difference in having a gratitude practice that creates a shift within us. The why. It gives a deeper meaning. It pulls in the emotion behind what you’re grateful for.
For example, if I were to write I am grateful for the delicious, authentic, Greek food I had for lunch and leave it at that sure it’s what I’m grateful for. But it becomes completely different when I write why I am grateful for this.
The Greek salad, fresh feta, fresh vegetables, olive oil, and seasonings are what I was so hoping for and craving for so many years. The fresh tzatziki sauce in my veggie gyro. It all takes me back to the seaside village in Greece where I originally fell in love with all things Greek food.
I’ve been on the search for tasty, authentic, fresh, Greek food, especially tzatziki since I left Greece over 10 years ago. I found it! In all places Hawaii! This pop-up, food-to-go, hole-in-the-wall shop, only open 2 days a week, and the owners, from Greece, who’ve managed to get authentic ingredients to create their delish food. I am so grateful. I will be a regular.
Do you feel the difference in writing about the why vs. just leaving it at the fact that I was grateful for the lunch I had that day?
On a completely different level, like life-changing type of stuff, I credit my gratitude journal to being married. Before starting a gratitude journal years ago, I was married to my corporate career. I was working 70+ hours a week. I loved my work. I didn’t love my job. I had no desire to be in a relationship. I had no balance between my work and my personal life. None.
I was content being single. It was all I could take on. A relationship was too much for my workload. I had just ended a long-term relationship. That was a really good decision. But my mind was made up. I was focused on my career success and not much more than that.
Shift Your Perspective as a Top Leader in Direct Sales
Then I started a gratitude journal. A few months into it my perspective had completely changed. My mind opened. I saw life differently. I was still devoted to my career but there was a shift in my perspective. A shift toward selflessness.
During that time I met my now husband of almost 15 years. I credit my gratitude practice to my being open to receiving that relationship. To being curious. To being at peace with what the future held. To letting go of what I was holding onto so tightly, that self-focused perspective.
I still have an active gratitude practice all these years later.
Are you ready to start your gratitude practice? It creates a subtle shift over time that changes your perspective. It brings the attention off yourself and the nagging little things that can bring you down day-to-day. Whether personal events or those tiring, frustrating, moments of being that go-to problem solver for your team.
Your gratitude practice can truly create a shift for you. But it has to be a consistent practice. And you have to let the benefits unfold over time. Don’t be waiting and watching. Simply keep your gratitude journal and you’ll look up one day and already be enjoying the inner peace and new perspective it’s gifted you.
What will you write in? Snap a picture of what you’ll write in and share it with us. Click over to Instagram @yourcrazybigdreams and share.
The best is yet to come, friend. Always.
