Thanksgiving Starts with Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving,

It's impossible to be grateful and unhappy at the same time.

Here is the harsh truth: you’ll never experience gratitude unless you anchor yourself into the present moment and focus on the positive things in your life.

There is a high probability that you are currently experiencing challenges in your personal or professional life that are actively pulling you away from a state of gratitude. It’s easy to get cynical, pessimistic, and resentful. But not you. Today, you are going to do the Gratitude Five Challenge. Here is your Thanksgiving homework:

The Gratitude Five Challenge

List five things, people, or situations for which you are grateful. Have your family or close coworkers do the same, and share the list with each other. (If you don’t have someone to do it with, reply to me with your list of five, and I will be your gratitude buddy.)

As for me, here is my Gratitude Five Challenge:

1. For my optimistic outlook on life - It brings joy and hope to me and others regardless of the situation.

2. For my wife Amy - We were fortunate to bring two wonderful kids into the world and five others that we lost during miscarriages. Going through ups and downs together builds trust and character.

3. For Dorthy Wood - This year, Dorthy Wood joined us as COO, and I have loved working with her again. Everyone needs someone who stretches and challenges you professionally.

4. For coachable people - Having executive coaching clients, managers in workshops, 6th-grade football players, and now 4th-grade girls basketball players who demonstrate their hunger to get better and are willing to put in the work.

5. For Frozen Blueberries - If you haven’t tried them yet, do yourself a favor and go get a carton of blueberries and throw them in the freezer. Game changer.

Whether we know each other personally or not, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that the Gratitude Five Challenge is a bright spot in your day.

Happy Thanksgiving,

John Eades

CEO LearnLoft

P.S. We still have spots left in Accelerate Leadership Live. It will never be this inexpensive again, so even if you can’t join the live sessions, be sure to sign up. If you want to sign up multiple managers in your organization, reply to this email, and Dorthy on our team will help set them up.