Gratitude is often spoken of as the starting point to creating a more successful life. In simple terms, when you first wake up in the morning if you give thanks for the good things which are in your life, you will start the day off on a positive note and that will flow through the day. Make this routine a habit and you will find this positive attitude becoming a part of who you are.
This simple concept is in fact a critical trait for leaders who want to build great businesses.
In today’s competitive marketplace, inspiring and motivating staff is the key to building a team that out-competes every other player in your market. So imagine the difference it will make if leaders come to work with a positive upbeat attitude allowing them to support and encourage everyone to give their best, versus an ‘the entire world is against me’ attitude. In my experience, a positive attitude to life attracts like-minds and builds a creative, competitive environment. An attitude of ‘life is against me’ only draws in the negative and generally drives out anyone and anything that has a spark of imagination or energy.
But the commentaries around creating ‘an attitude of gratitude’ generally fall short when it comes to considering how to seed and nurture this attitude. The suggested process of waking up and writing down three things that you could be thankful for is a starting point but needs to go to another level.
The ability to be truly grateful for the things in your life requires a core of humility.
Humility seeds, feeds and grows gratitude. Without a core of humility, I believe gratitude will always be superficial. Now humility is really a power virtue but unfortunately one that is not very popular today. With the ‘me’ culture that is so prevalent through many of our societies and workplaces today, humility is seen as a weakness of surrendering and letting others get their way ahead of you.
“Humility allows you to learn and be grateful, to not take yourself too seriously, to seek continuous improvement, to take failure in your stride, and to work with the best, at their best. It is a foundational trait upon which all else can be built as it allows you to be open to continuous improvement and learning and to win the trust, support and effort of everyone you work with. Humble people are great leaders.” – An extract from Achieve – Creating A Life of Enduring Success.
A truly humble person can easily identify and accept that all the good things that are happening in their life are a ‘blessing’ for which they should be thankful. They don’t have to prove to themselves or anyone else that it was their efforts that yielded the reward or outcome.
Humility and gratitude represent the core elements of the DNA of those with the Achiever Trait, being what I believe is the secret formula for people who make success seem so easy and an enduring part of their life.
Active Knowledge Questions:
- Are you someone who wakes with an attitude of gratitude?
- Could you start thinking about the good things that happen in your life each day?
- Are you able to open yourself to being humble?
- Can you become the positive influence in your workplace/community that encourages and supports others?
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All the best in the success of your business,
Richard Shrapnel
