Can a gratitude practice really affect my life and my biz?

Apr 12

A woman sitting on a rock, writing in a journal. She is surrounded by plants, moss, and trees. She appears to be in a secluded spot in nature.

I’m going to start off by saying… I’m in no way a pro at this whole gratitude thing.

It’s something I’m still working on being consistent with and you could say part of me is still a liiiittle skeptical about what it’s doing for me.

I know having a positive mindset can help boost my mood and outlook on life, but can being truly thankful for things actually improve my quality of life?

Can it affect how I see and think about all the “normal” parts of life? Can it affect my productivity and the way I approach my day-to-day tasks at work?

Well, it’s not like starting a gratitude practice is going to hurt me so I figured, why not give it a go. Fair warning. This post is a doozy. It’s like some weird hybrid between a journal entry and research I uncovered… It's wild.

Out of all things, why gratitude?

A little background on this might help. Just skip to the next section if you’re like, “Damn it, Jess, I just want to know what it does for me!” 😂

This idea of gratitude has popped up on my radar before, but over the last few years, it keeps coming back. It’s very persistent.

What got me started this time around was thinking about all the changes I’ve made to get to where I am now. And, there have been many.

One of the biggest was with my career - transitioning from a teacher by day and copywriter by night and weekends (nope, no social life)... to a full time freelance copywriter and entrepreneur. I went from seeing 500+ kids and 50+ adults a week to… me. Just me. (Yea, I see people on Zoom and talk on Slack, but it’s not the same).

But I was miserable as a teacher, so I was naturally feeling grateful for all things related to my escape. The freelance/entrepreneur world exposed me to a whole new set of challenges though. Ones I knew about ahead of time but once I was in the weeds, I was definitely feeling all the things:

Overwhelm, stress, anxiety, imposter syndrome, resistance, procrastination, loneliness, doubt, freedom (goodness, I had freedom!)... it became a lot to figure out during this time of transition. Shifting from the “9-5” to doing your own thing… that’s not how society works. It’s not the way we’re “supposed” to do it.

I was talking to my friend about this (that amazing fellow copywriter friend I mentioned in my last post)... and she mentioned gratitude. There it was, popping up again. See? Persistent.

Before I could spill out any words of hesitation, she was like, “I know, I didn’t believe it at first either. I fought it. But I kept doing it. And yes, I do feel different. I feel good.”

Damn. I want to feel good! But not a false sense of “fake it til you make it, good.” I want to feel good FOR REAL.

Gratitude can do ALL that?!

Before grabbing my nearest notebook and just dumping out all the thoughts that made me feel happy, I wanted to know more about all this gratitude stuff. Is there a right way to do it? What’s the most effective? Is there any science behind this?!

Turns out, there’s a shit ton. Who knew? (…maybe you did. But I didn’t!)

And while there’s a handful of different approaches besides the common “write 3 things you’re grateful for each day,” they all seem to have the same benefits. Looks like with a genuine gratitude practice, I could experience things like:

-Improved sleep

-Decreased anxiety and stress

-More positive emotions

-Boosted vitality

-Strengthened immune system (like, what?!)

-Decreased risk of disease (again… what?!)

Okay. So this is where my skeptical brain was like, there’s no way feeling thankful or grateful could do all that. But studies were saying “all signs point to yes! Yes it can!” So the next step? Trying it for myself. And figuring out how the hell to do this.

Ways to develop a kickass gratitude practice.

While skimming through 20 open tabs, I started to notice a couple common approaches to expressing gratitude. All of them included a sort of self-practice, and many of them talked about showing gratitude toward others as well. It’s probably smart to start with myself though, right? I mean, isn’t there that saying about love? You can’t love someone else until you love yourself… something like that. My brain is telling me the same goes for gratitude. (I could be 100% wrong 🤷🏻‍♀️).

I was also looking for that low-hanging fruit. How can I get into this without having to start a whole new habit with a million steps that I’ll never end up following? Are there any things that I’m kind of already doing now?

Here are some that really stood out to me (and a few extra I might try later… and who knows, maybe you like those better too!):

Write 3 things you’re thankful for each day

Yea, I know we all hear this one. But hearing and doing are entirely different. Plus, how long does it realistically take to do a little reflection and write down 3 things? Not long. I can do this.

Meditate

This approach was unexpected to me, but once I was reading about it, it made total sense. Many people feel meditation is too hard, that “completely clearing the mind” is unattainable… but guess what. Meditation isn’t about that. It’s about being present in the now.

And it can be something as simple as saying one thing you’re grateful for with every inhale, and another with the exhale. (I personally have experience with meditation as part of a daily yoga practice so, this one seemed doable as well.)

Immerse yourself in nature

Yes! This is my THING! I think I accidentally discovered that I was already practicing gratitude on my nature walks.

Walking without distraction. No music, no podcasts… just looking and observing, and beginning to feel connected to the world around you. This one is natural (no pun intended, heh) to me, but I’d like to invite you to try it.

Walking in silence can be very uncomfortable for some people. But maybe that discomfort is where the changes are happening 😉

Say a mantra

There are tons of studies that show mantras actually have a positive effect on our mood, energy, and mind. Choosing ones related to gratitude, happiness, freedom, etc. can help us get into that mindset of thankfulness.

And, mantras can be effective whether you choose ones from millennia ago that are chanted in Sanskrit… or you make your own mantra, created specially for what you need right now.

I tend to gravitate toward the more traditional ones (going back to my yoga practice - fun fact, I’m actually certified, you know! )

One I’ve been really into lately is Om Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu - the version from Deva Premal is just 👌🏻

Other approaches I found:

-Create a gratitude jar

-Express gratitude through art

-Smile more often

-Consume positive content

-Make time for quality time

-View mistakes as a change to grow

-Focus on your strengths

Wait. Will gratitude affect my biz too? (...yes!)

So after digging into different approaches for creating my own gratitude practice, it was time for the ultimate test.

Seeing if this stuff helps me in my work life too.

We often think of writing nice letters to friends, complimenting someone close to us, or celebrating accomplishments with family. But bringing this kind of attention to gratitude into our biz can give us huge benefits and make the work day a little more enjoyable for everyone. And I don’t know about you, but I’m all about creating a little more joy during my day. Especially when it comes to work!

Here’s what I learned… Bringing a gratitude practice into the work day can help everyone (the people I communicate with AND myself) feel more satisfied and fulfilled with the work they’re/we’re doing.

It creates a stronger sense of community with people who truly feel their best interests are considered.

And it helps everyone remain more positive, even when there are annoying things happening that we could all be complaining about instead.

So when it comes to my freelance work as a copywriter and the conversations I have with people through my entrepreneurial journey, here’s how I’m planning on including gratitude into the mix.

-Take more time to reach out to people and express gratitude to them too. I swear, it really does make their day.

-End of week reflections will include things I’m grateful for specifically related to my work

-Start mentally saying thank you to everyone when they join my email list. No, they can’t hear me, but it feels good to express gratitude for every single person who decides to join my community.

-Take a moment to express to someone how thankful I am when their actions make me feel recognized and appreciated… and then make sure my actions make them feel the same.

🙃 Phew… I think that’s it for now. I know, FINALLY!

So, this is an ongoing topic for me. If you noticed in the last section, I said those are the ways I’m “planning on including gratitude” …as in, I haven’t started yet, but I’m going to.

Like I said, I’m no pro. I’m no expert. But I’m willing to put in the work to try new things and do them right alongside you. I mean, if I can learn something new that’s helpful in my life and my biz, then hell yea I want to share it with you too!

Are you already practicing gratitude in some way? If not, which approaches are you excited to try?

(One thing you can do is show me how grateful you are for me and my long, rambling blog post and download my free guide that helps entrepreneurs and small biz owners just like YOU use story-driven emails to grow their biz! That was a horrible plug… I’m not sorry 😂)