Welcome back!
We’ve been talking about how to get happy to get motivated. Let’s continue with that discussion by looking at one of the most powerful ways to quickly and easily boost your happiness…
Being Grateful for What You Have
Sometimes when you focus on achieving your goals, you end up spending a lot of time focusing on the things you don’t have yet. For example, the aspiring marketer is focusing on being successful, which draws attention to the fact that he’s not yet successful. Or take the person who wants to lose weight: She spends a lot of time planning how to lose weight, which draws attention to what she doesn’t have (a slim body).
All of this focusing on what you don’t have doesn’t help your happiness at all. Indeed, focusing on what you don’t have can even make you feel depressed. Thus begins the vicious cycle of losing motivation, which makes you feel more depressed, which makes you think even more about what you don’t have… and on and on.
So here’s what you need to do to keep both your happiness and motivation levels high: You need to acknowledge and be grateful for what you have in all areas of your life. And one of the best ways to do this is to keep a gratefulness journal.
Now, you should already be keeping a success journal that lists your goals, your plans to achieve your goals, your to-do lists and your progress. However, this journal should be separate since it’s not limited to just your goals.
Here’s how it works…
Every day (at least once per day) write down five to ten things you’re grateful for. Indeed, you should start the sentence like this: “I am grateful for _______.”
No item is too big or too small. You can be grateful for big things, like the health of your family. You can be grateful for small things, like the beautiful bird you heard singing in the morning. You can acknowledge and be grateful for almost anything. The point is for you to notice all the beauty and abundance that already exists in your life. And in turn, noticing the small stuff and being grateful for these things attracts even more good things into your life.
You can see what happens next. When you take notice of all the good things in your life, you realize that you’re very lucky and blessed. When you feel blessed, you feel happier. When you feel happy, you enjoy a burst of motivation and productivity. This renewed enthusiasm enables you to meet your goals and bring more good things in your life… and happily the cycle continues!
Now here’s one more tip…
In addition to being grateful for what you already have, you can be grateful for what’s to come. You do this by writing down your gratefulness entries for your future goals, but you write them in the present tense.
Let’s say you want to start a business that makes $100,000 per year. You may write a gratefulness entry like this: “I’m so grateful now that I have a successful business that makes at least $100,000 per year.”
Experts have different theories as to how it works. Some believe this sort of gratefulness affirmation helps you attract what you want. Some believe that it helps prepare your subconscious mind to accept success. You don’t have to know how it works in order to see the results… so start keeping your gratefulness journal and see if it doesn’t work for you, too!
That’s it for this time. Next time you’ll learn about one of the biggest motivation and productivity killers, so stay tuned!