How gratitude can change your work life

It’s pretty common to hear someone say “I want to enjoy the work I do, and I want my work to be fulfilling and fun”. Yet, when a lot of us go to work we are constantly thinking negative thoughts, saying negative things, and focusing only on negative outcomes. If we truly want to enjoy the work we do like we all say, then this is a big problem.

But there’s a simple solution to this problem — Gratitude.

More so than changing your business, job, career, or anything like that, gratitude just might be the key to your happiness at work. By the end of this blog post, you’ll have a simple practice for showing gratitude, even in challenging times.

Lesson 1

When you’re feeling down, ask yourself, "What am I grateful for?" and "Why am I grateful for this?"

Then answer the “why” question with at least one to five reasons.

If I do this a few times(especially writing it down with pen and paper), I almost always feel better because it takes my mind off of all the negative parts of my reality and puts it back on the positive things that are a part of my reality too.

Lesson 2

Some things, like “the summer time” are easy to be grateful for and think of reasons to be grateful for them.

But at work and in life, there will always be difficult and stressful problems coming at you that you’ll need to be grateful for too.

The reason to be grateful for these difficult and stressful problems is that if you look at them with the right perspective, there’s always an opportunity on the other side. Just think about it, what thing in our world do you know of that only has one side?

• A coin — 2 sides
• Piece of paper — 2 sides
• Your hands and feet — 2 sides
• The pillow you sleep on — 2 sides
• Life’s situations — 2 sides(negative or positive, problem or opportunity)

That said, I’ve found that asking myself “What am I grateful for?” and then writing down a problem that really stresses me out doesn’t always work well.

In the end, I end up writing a bunch of stuff but not feeling any gratitude.

So to get around this, I ask “What’s the opportunity in this situation to be grateful for?” instead and still give 1 to 5 reasons why. This question works best for me when I am dealing with a tough situation.

Lesson 3

Now, whether you’re asking yourself “What am I grateful for?” or “What’s the opportunity in this situation to be grateful for?”, there are some common rules you should keep in mind as you write down your 1 to 5 answers to the “why” question.

The reason these rules are important is that we’re human beings. And as a human being, it’s very difficult to be both frustrated and grateful at the same time. It’s just not something we can do well.

So whatever you write down as answers to the “why” question, they will have to be answers that genuinely make you feel good(even when the situation itself is making you feel bad).

The rest of this article will explain the rules for ensuring you only give reasons for being grateful that make you feel good, not bad.

Lesson 4

If you struggle to find gratitude in the present, think about the long-term benefits and how the situation can make you better. If you’re going through a tough time now, how will the lessons from this situation make you better in the future?

Lesson 5

When you feel lack, focus on being grateful for the basics.

I always go to things like air, water, and access to the internet because it’s easy to take those for granted. But without them there’s a lot we couldn’t do. Like without air or water you couldn’t breathe or live. And without your phone, you couldn’t constantly check social media(which seems like the modern equivalent of not having air or water lol).

Lesson 6

Always say “thank you” when you receive or spend money, appreciating the exchange and what you gain in return.

For example, if you get paid tomorrow it’s something to celebrate because you received money.

And if you go to the store and buy groceries tomorrow, that’s also something to celebrate because you paid your money and got food in exchange.

Lesson 7

If you’ve sat down, tried your hardest, and you STILL can’t think of a reason to be grateful in a tough situation, then cheat and let AI think of a reason for you.

You just need to,

1. Go to Chat GPT or any other popular AI site and enter this prompt: Considering the situation(insert your problem) and the article below, please give a list of answers to the question "what’s the opportunity in this situation to be grateful for? And what are 1 to 5 reasons why I’d be grateful for this?” — (insert copied blog post)
2. Fill out the “insert your problem” parenthesis in the prompt with your current problem or situation
3. Lastly, copy Lessons 1–6 from this article and paste them into the “insert copied blog post” space after the prompt.

Then generate an answer.

After I get an answer, I sometimes type in the follow up question “Next, can you please give a list of steps to carry out each of the opportunities you gave above?”

The answers I get from this question usually help put me in the mindset of executing on whatever opportunities I find rather than just seeing or hearing them.

By practicing these steps, you can take control of having a more positive perspective in work and in life. And you’ll have the ability to find gratitude and joy in every situation.