Thankfulness as a Personal Edge
When you think of being thankful, do you see it as a choice? Do you feel like you're 100% empowered to let somebody else know that you appreciate them? What about a thank you text or even a handwritten thank you note? Can you do that any time you want to? If it's true that you're in control of your thankfulness, how would you rate yourself? I'm always thankful, I'm super thankful, I'm pretty thankful, I'm sometimes thankful, I'm seldom thankful, I'm never thankful....
We believe that there is a finite number of things that each of us has 100% control of; and thankfulness is one of those things. Wise people have taught us that thankfulness is like a muscle; the more you exercise it, the better it gets. When I hear the phrase, attitude of gratitude, I enjoy the rhyme, and realize it's up to me to be thankful or not. It's a choice that we all get to make multiple times per day.
The interesting thing in the sports' world is that it appears that thankful athletes get more out of their talent. To be clear, we understand that each person has some level of talent that they are born with. How they exercise and grow that talent, then turns into their ability. Thankful athletes seem to be able to grow their ability faster than those who are not. While our sample size is just over 800 athletes, we do see this as a trend. When you realize what you are thankful for, your stress and pressure naturally decline. It's almost as if being thankful is an anecdote to failure.
Can you imagine how hard it would be to hit a baseball that is changing directions while moving at 95 mph if your shoulders were tense? When we see a hitter or a pitcher take a deep breath and shrug their shoulders, it's in an effort to release stress. When those same players are thankful for the opportunity to play that day, they tend to be in a low-stress mode allowing them to be in the “zone” or close to it. We see this clear example of how thankfulness can be a separator or a personal edge.
Psychologists tell us today that gratitude and thankfulness can be better than medicine. For example, people that say thank you have been scientifically proven to grow more new relationships. They tell us that grateful people have better physical and mental health and even sleep better. Studies go on to say that grateful people have higher self-esteem and foster resilience in difficult situations. If any of these or all of these are real, it appears that being thankful is a fantastic way to live.
If thankfulness is an area you want to grow in, an easy way to start is to end your day by saying what you're thankful for. We're told that by putting these positive thoughts in our mind before we go to sleep, we can not only improve our rest time, it also improves our attitude for the next morning. It appears that thankfulness is not only good for us, it's good for the people who are in our lives.
Does it make sense for you to increase your level of thankfulness as a personal edge; one that will help you to stand out in the crowd?
