24 Nov 3 Ways Practicing Gratitude Can Impact Your Life
Whether you are celebrating Thanksgiving or not, it is one of our favorite holidays of the year at Integrated Staffing. Of course, the turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie are highlights of the day, however, we always enjoy our time to reflect and be thankful. This used to be the only time that we would stop and practice gratitude up until last year when the pandemic hit.
Like many other businesses, the pandemic hit us hard. It affected so many areas of our business – clients shutting down their businesses which led to mass terminations, labor market drying with excellent unemployment benefits, employees quarantining due to COVID positive test results or exposure, and a disconnected team due to remote work. As a result, depression sets in, negativity escalates, a sense of connectedness with co-workers lost, and morale plummets. At that point, we felt that it was the time to make a change and find a way to turn it around as we realized that the pandemic and everything that came with it was going to be the new normal and we would not be able to survive it emotionally and mentally if we couldn’t pivot and pivot. So, we decided as team that we wanted to focus on all the good that was happening around us. What better way to do that then by getting serious with practicing gratitude?
In business, we are always looking for what is the next big thing – can we find more clients, can we find bigger contracts, can we recruit more candidates, how can we grow more as a business, what can we do better, and the list goes on and on. At a young age, we are taught to pursue success and although we are thankful for being brought up this way, we also know that as we get older there needs to be a better balance. For our Integrated Staffing team, we consistently find it challenging to turn it off because once you achieve something, you immediately chase the next ‘big’ thing. This way of thinking, ultimately, stems from not truly understanding the meaning of gratitude. However, the pandemic changed our thought process and our behavior. It forced us to slow down, celebrate small wins (even if the win was that we got dressed up for a zoom call), each day in our daily Zoom status meetings, each person started with something they were grateful for whether it be work or life related. Shortly after we began that practice, we started to look forward to our meetings to share not only our gratitude moments, but also to hear about others. This daily practice of gratitude stimulated great dialogue which then turned into great ideas, and it also helped us learn great lessons, particularly when things just didn’t work out for us. Once we truly practiced gratitude, it really impacted our lives at home, strengthened our team and business, as well as strengthened our relationships with our clients and employees.
It is important to understand that practicing gratitude is just that…practicing. For the following to have an impact, you must commit to making gratitude a part of your daily life…not just every Thanksgiving.
Gratitude = More Positive Mindset = Positive Outcomes
Life is about focus. Whatever we focus on expands. If we focus on the negative, then we tend to see everything around us through a negative lens. It’s easy to see all the problems in our life when that is what we are truly focused on.
But the same is true if we focus on the positive. When we are practicing gratitude, it is easy to see the positive even in challenging situations. Personally, this has been a huge game-changer. When challenges have shown up in our lives, shifting our focus has changed our mindset to a much more positive one.
Gratitude Creates More Happiness
Another way that gratitude helps us, is it makes us happier. A lot of this is connected to having a positive mindset. When we have a positive outlook on things, we tend to appreciate things more.
Journaling has helped us in this area significantly. At the office, we have journaling time scheduled in our calendar to make it a priority each week. We have noticed that when we are consistently journaling and practicing gratitude, we tend to be happier about life. We realize the things we have rather than the things we don’t.
Gratitude Strengthens Your Belief In Your Goals
We are huge believers in goal setting and to accomplish our goals we need to be in the right mindset. When we are focused on the negative and all the things wrong in our lives, it is hard to accomplish the goals we have set for ourselves and our business.
When we practice gratitude, we are creating a foundation for success internally. When our mind is right, we can quite literally achieve anything we want. Once we started practicing gratitude, our dreams started to become our reality.
Our recommendation is to start carving out 10 minutes in the morning to start writing down what you are grateful for. After writing them down, then read them and try to embody that feeling. Remember, just like anything worth doing… it will take time to see results from your gratitude practice. For our team at Integrated Staffing, this practice has been life changing.
As a final note, we do want to take this opportunity to shout out to all our employees and clients. We are grateful for our employees’ hard work, dedication, and contributions they make to our business and our clients’ businesses. We are thankful for our clients who continue to stick with us during a tight labor market, changing landscape, and the roller coaster ride of changing employment policies, mandates, and requirements. We are grateful for our internal team who works tirelessly to help generate opportunities for our clients and our employees.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours from our team at Integrated Staffing!