3 Gratitude Practices I Tried That Became Long-Term Habits

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When I was 20, it seemed easy keep a positive attitude in the life. It was a simpler time with a lot less to go wrong. As the years passed, I began to accumulate responsibilities, and the bad things happened along with the good. When I started my company, I faced new unknown challenges. At one point, my business almost collapsed. As a result, my perspective shifted to a more negative place. Business problems and other life responsibilities in 2007 took over and made some days downright bad. My tone changed from optimistic to pessimistic. I started having trouble seeing the good in things. That change in perspective affected my health, inviting more “misfortunes.”

Although it wasn’t a conscious effort, I began compiling strategies to recapture the happy and positive mindset of my twenties. I had previously thought that whether a person thinks the glass is half full or half empty is genetically programmed. At some point, I realized that any wiring could be overcome by events. My parents taught me that a positive attitude is the foundation for a good life. I never thought that keeping one would take practice or need support, but it turns out that it does.

Today, I practice three regular habits to keep my outlook positive.

Related: Do you want a great business and life hack? Learn how to harness the power of gratitude. Here is how to do it.

1. Meeting “The Greatest Hits”

As a business leader, most of the company’s challenging problems find their way to your desk. When you see so many problems, you get the feeling that it’s all there is: problems. Rationally, you know that’s not the case, but in order to instill the right perspectivewe started our “Greatest Hits” reunions.

Every week at 9 am, key people in our company share their latest and greatest successes for 10 minutes. Before the meeting, they fill out our unique Post-It requesting their responses. Each person shares two examples of something they are proud of: something remarkable they saw someone else do or something that happened at the company. Then they share a personal success, something from their personal life for which they are grateful.

With six attendees, each week we hear 18 positive things that went well. In a year, that’s almost 1000 good things! Without this process, you wouldn’t even be aware of most of these 1000 greatest hits. The big benefit for me is a weekly reminder that 90% of things are right, even when it seems like 90% is wrong. It also increases team morale and confidence.

2. Thanksgiving Thursday

Another habit I’ve developed is now known as Thanksgiving Thursday. Every Thursday afternoon, I express my gratitude to others for what they have done for me over the past week.

I use some prompts for this. I write things down as they happen in a “Grateful to You” notepad. I keep my post-it note from the Greatest Hits reunion to generate other ideas. I look at last week’s calendar to refresh my memory on everything I did and who I met with and review the photos on my phone. I write it all down in the Grateful pad, then decide how to better appreciate those people.

This practice has evolved to the point where I have a wall of gratitude in my office with a variety of cards that I send out to people. I spend about 20 minutes sending cards, letters, gifts, emails, and entering relevant company items into a Core Value Highlights database.

This habit accomplishes more than you think. Of course, it makes me realize all the things I have to be thankful for (usually four to eight a week) and appreciate them more.

With team members, reinforce positive behavior, notable actions, and outstanding job performance. I find that people are universally motivated by being appreciated. When you do a good job at it, they are more motivated, repeat excellent performance, and enjoy better morale from feeling properly appreciated. I often see my notes on the walls of your offices. I think doing a good job of appreciating people is a big contributing factor to the high ratings we receive on Glassdoor from former employees. In my experience, I get five times more feedback when showing gratitude to team members compared to monetary recognition in the form of raises or profit sharing.

Non-employees also enjoy being recognized for doing something for the company. handwritten thanks they’re pretty rare now that sometimes I even get thanks for thanks!

Related: How to Practice Gratitude as a Business Skill

3. The 90/10 rule

Think about it: most, say 90%, of the things you worry about might happen never do. Actually, it could be more than 95%. When I first heard that 30 years ago, I didn’t necessarily believe it. But after 30 years of looking at what I emphasize or think versus the bottom line, the rule is absolutely true.

The trick is to retrain your self-preserving human nature by worrying about try not to worry while life happens around you. That’s probably a whole separate article on its own, but if you can train yourself to “worry” or stop at something when it actually becomes a legitimate problem, you become 90% happier.

The habits I practice are by no means a complete list of how leaders can keep gratitude in mind to elevate their businesses and stay positive. But they are the three that I usually put into practice. Each has nuances that are beneficial to me and my team (or both).

No matter how you incorporate gratitude into your business, I encourage you to do so. Start now, get creative, experiment with different techniques and find what resonates the most, because everyone benefits from an increase in gratitude and innovative ways to incorporate it.