Storing up Positivity: The Benefits of a Gratitude Box – October 1, 2024

LEARN A LITTLE:

Storing Up Positivity: The Benefits of a Gratitude Box

I’ve always thought that the way we start our day makes a significant difference in how we experience the rest of the day. For the last six months, after a shower, a cup of coffee and breakfast, I head to my favorite chair in our home office. The very first thing I do is get a small Post-it note and jot down the name of someone or even something I experienced that I am grateful for.

We all live busy lives, so it’s not uncommon to overlook every day blessings that bring us joy and gladness. Maintaining a positive outlook can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. And that’s where the gratitude box comes into play. It’s an easy-to-use tool for starting your day out right.

What exactly is a gratitude box? It is a container that holds your collection of gratitude notes. In my case, the container is a cigar box from days gone by. Using the gratitude box is easy and convenient; just a few words on a slip of paper each morning accomplishes the objective.

One of the key benefits of starting your day with an expression of gratitude is that it provides a boost to your mood and mindset. My goal is to be more grateful today than I was yesterday. Starting each morning reflecting on what you are truly thankful for sets a positive tone that can help carry you through the day.

Gratitude is not just a fleeting feeling. Current research has shown that it has lasting psychological and physiological benefits. Regularly acknowledging the positives in your life can help evaporate stress, reduce feelings of anxiety and increase life satisfaction. Dedicating a few moments each morning to add to your gratitude box engages you in a mindful experience that reinforces these positive efforts.

One advantage of a gratitude box over the traditional gratitude journal is the ease of use. I have kept gratitude journals in the past—and they were helpful. But at some point, they seemed like a chore, something I had to do. I found myself thinking too much about the words and sentences, and actually spending more time than I needed to in contemplation.

With the gratitude box, on the other hand, I simply write down a word, a name or a short note, and drop it into the box. I no longer feel like it’s a compulsion. Typically, I don’t ‘fill’ my gratitude box on the weekends as we are frequently out of town. Therefore, I feel no guilt when I see a calendar page without the gratitude entries.

Besides the daily benefit, there’s also the rewarding feelings you get when you open the box and read through previous positive deposits. It is truly a joyful and fulfilling experience.

I encourage you to give it a try. It’s a treasure trove of positivity that you can visit and revisit whenever you need a lift.

LAUGH A LITTLE:

REFLECT A LITTLE:

READ A LITTLE:

Everything Counts: 
52 Remarkable Ways to Inspire Excellence and Drive Results

Gary Ryan Blair (John Wiley & Sons, 2010)

The thought that “everything counts” has been with us for a long time, even before Citibank made it popular on the TV airwaves around 2011. I believe it actually described a specific $10,000 minimum bank account.

Much earlier, colleagues and I were fond of saying, “Because Everyone Counts, Everything Counts.” For us it was also a cultural description that covered a wide range of things from how long a telephone could ring before it was answered to where employee coffee pots were located and shared, who had keys and to what, the use of reserved parking spots and even access to copy machines, etc.

Gary Ryan Blaine, an author, consultant and conference speaker, also serves as the President of The GoalsGuy, a training organization devoted to high performance and excellence. While his book, Everything Counts, blog postings, and other writings have been around for a number of years, I only recently came across him when a friend suggested that I view a short Youtube video entitled, “The Only Way to Start is to Start.”

I began to explore his work and was intrigued by this book. I recommend it to you, especially if you are interested in the pursuit of excellence. He very effectively presents the idea that, “Little things can make a big difference.” The book is an easy-to-read, pragmatic discussion divided into three sections: I. Professional Strategies, II. Personal Strategies and III. Universal Concepts.

He begins the book with the Golden Rule of Excellence. “Everything you say; every thought you entertain; and everything you do has a direction, which serves as an advance or a retreat in respect to your pursuit of excellence. Everything – regardless of size or intent – has bottom-line consequences; therefore, everything counts.”

What follows are a few selected strategies to assist you on your journey of excellence. (They are all quotes or paraphrases from the book.)

Professional Strategies

• No matter what business or personal activities in which you are engaged, you will be continuously challenged by larger problems that could have been prevented if you had paid close attention to the details at the beginning.
• Success is the result of making and keeping commitments to yourself and others. It’s that simple, that profound and that important.
• Focus is a strategic asset and the key factor that drives all results.
• True quality is only achieved through continuous improvement in performance.
• Ensure that each and every aspect of your work receives a finishing touch. Quality is first. Quality is always the mark of greatness.
• Life will not go according to plan if you do not have a plan. Why not plan for the best year of your life?

Personal Strategies

• Character is comprised of those principles and values that give your life direction, meaning and depth. Character sets the example and the standards by which you behave.
• If you change your thinking, you change your choices. If you change your choices, you change your life.
• Passion gives you the will to start, the strength to continue and the sustaining power to overcome the greatest of obstacles and setbacks. Passion is the fuel that drives perseverance.
• There is great virtue and glory in never giving up. No great achievement comes without obstacles.
• Perseverance keeps hope alive. It is a force that steers us and keeps us moving toward our goals.
• If you persevere in doing the right things, you will ultimately get the right results.
• We get better when we do better. And we do better when we know better. Each day offers an opportunity for improvement.
• All personal development is dependent upon your growth as a person.

Universal Concepts

• Accept, confront and embrace truth; it is the foundation of reality.
• In order to lead and make well-informed decisions, true and accurate information is essential. Whether you like that information is irrelevant; the quality and integrity of information is what counts.
• Denial is self-imposed deception. Self-delusion can grip an entire organization and lead the people in it to ridiculous conclusions.
• You are rewarded with success based on your ability to understand and learn from failure.
• Failure serves as an indispensable function in the production of your success. Failure is not merely the output of an unsuccessful activity. It is also the insight for a successful one.
• Failure is a temporary condition that applies to a particular situation, time or place. If you don’t let it devastate you, failure can be an opportunity for learning, for recovery, for the creation and demonstration of character.

Hopefully, the above insights and practical advice will motivate you to wrestle with the issue of everything counts.

Until next time,
Art Dykstra

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