Grateful

By Robyn Reis

I blinked and it’s that time again … the time of year to overindulge in the name of family, friendship and general merriment.  For businesses, it’s also a time to reflect on the previous year and set new goals for the upcoming year.  I don’t know about you, but I find it both exhilarating and demotivating at the same time – reviewing what goals I was able to accomplish (feeling great!) and obsessing over what I wasn’t able to accomplish, for one reason or another (feeling not-so-great). This year, I did something different and what a change it made for me!  Rather than focus on what didn’t happen, I spent more time sitting in gratitude for all that did.  And guess what?  The unfinished list had less and less negative impact on my thinking.

A few years ago, I was introduced to a great, yet simple, team exercise which I can honestly say has stayed with me ever since and one I’ve used with teams I coach.   It’s a wonderful example of showing gratitude.  In the generalist of terms, the point of the exercise was to illustrate that no matter how hard things were, no matter how full your plate was that you still mattered to your team, that you still impacted other people, be it in small or significant ways. It was a great way to let your team members know what you appreciated about them and what they appreciated about you. At the end of the exercise you got to keep the plates. We can lose sight of these attributes when we get caught up in our everyday lives.  My plates still hang in my office today as a daily reminder that I am someone who matters.

While my Grateful List is too long for this blog, I wanted to share a few of them that might resonate with you:

• I’m grateful for the opportunity to have my own business to work with clients who want to grow their businesses and we get to learn from each other;
• I’m grateful for the mistakes I make, because they help me learn, grow and explore new ways of thinking;
• I’m grateful for the naysayers, the doubters and the challenging times, because they keep me focused, committed and determined to keep moving forward;
• I’m grateful for the support of my family, friends and colleagues, because they know what I’m capable of, even when I forget sometimes.

Bottom line is I’m grateful … for so many reasons.

What are you grateful for?

I have a lot on my 2017 goals list to accomplish and I’m excited about what lies ahead in terms of achieving these goals.  What I won’t forget to add to my list this year is making time to be grateful.  I’ve learned it’s paramount to my success.