Adding Joy to Work by Being Grateful

By Vicki Hess

How is your summer going?

It’s time to get out your sunglasses and flip flops!

If you’re like most people I know, you would probably enjoy having the summer off.

I’m pretty sure that isn’t going to happen for most of us, so I was thinking about the next best thing.

What if we changed the way we looked at things to create more Joy at work?

This summer, I’m going to focus on 3 ways to grow WOWs at work. As a reminder, a WOW is something that makes you feel satisfied, energized and productive; otherwise known as "engaged." Today, I'm sharing another idea to bring a little summertime Joy to work.

This month’s tip is to Embody Gratitude!

Gratitude is the state of being thankful. This is an internal WOW that you can grow without any formal education, training or skills. Like most things, being grateful needs to be practiced regularly to show any benefit.

To make this practice one you think about regularly, try using a Gratitude Trigger™.

A Gratitude Trigger is when something you do routinely reminds you to be thankful. At our house, we put our forks together and say 5 things we are grateful for at every meal. Sitting down to eat is the trigger. It’s become such a habit that I even do this when I’m eating alone! 

You can use events at work as a trigger as well. Here are a few that I’ve heard from folks:

• Pulling into a parking space before work
• Washing your hands
• When your computer is turning on
• Getting into your car after work

There are no right or wrong triggers. The idea is simply to connect being grateful with something you are already doing to make it easy and memorable.

The benefits of gratitude are many. Today is the day to start!

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