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I’m glad you took a moment to stop and read this blog. If you let it, this blog is going to improve your day.
Do you love that feeling of closing a new deal? I know I sure do! Especially a big deal! I mean, hey, who doesn’t love closing six-figure deals?Well, this blog is going to do something powerful. It’s going to give you a feeling better than that! Oh, and it’s not going to require a lot of hard work to make that happen.I want you to stop for a moment and give thanks for what you have.
Let me start by saying that I was having a bad day for no reason. I was mentally complaining to God, (I’m a believer), about how my back hurts. (It’s been messed up and I keep hurting it. This time was playing paintball over the weekend.) I was complaining about how I’m tired, how I want certain things I don’t have, and yada, yada, yada. You get it. I was throwing a mental pity party.But then I realized, why am I complaining?
I literally had the ability to look at my boss and say, “Hey, my back is in a lot of pain. Can I go home to lay on my bed and finish my work from there?” And he said “Yes!” Wow! I’m thankful that I work for That Company and that we have a culture of results. Yet we also have the flexibility to empower our people to take care of themselves, so that they can then take care of our partners and clients.
In the world of advertising we kind of get a bad rap. We are seen as the industry that makes everyone unhappy. “Buy now! This will make your life better! You haven’t lived until you’ve had “x”! You don’t want to miss this deal! Get 10% when you buy $2,000 of this stuff that you most certainly need, but don’t tell your wife about it!”That’s kind of why I like our role in managing Google advertising, because we’re responding to a self-proclaimed need.
Regardless, I want you to take a moment and give thanks. What are you thankful for?
Do you have a nice car? Yes/No?
If No, do you have a car that gets you from point A to point B? Yes/No?
If No, do you have legs that allow you to walk from point A to point B? Yes/No?
If No, do you have a wheelchair that allows you to get from point A to point B? Yes/No?
If No, do you have friends who help you from point A to point B? Yes/No?
If No, then give thanks for reading this blog because I will certainly be your friend, and I will find a way to make a difference in your life (whether in person, or simply via influence).
But, really! I mean, seriously, we might all be at different stages in life. We might have different things in life. We might have hit the gene lottery pool, or we might have to try really hard and take meds to keep it all together due to a mental disorder. The fact is, I guarantee you have things that you can be thankful for. The fact that you’re reading this means you have internet access! It means you have a laptop, tablet, or cell phone! Who cares if it’s the latest model!
Let me tell you a secret – The ones in life that are the happiest are the ones who are thankful. Let that sink in. Have you met a happy person before? Was that happy person demanding? Did they expect things? Or were they simply grateful? Were they appreciative?
Start your morning right. Look yourself in the mirror and say, “I’m blessed.” “I’m thankful for ‘x, y, and z.” (Hey, you have a mirror? Another little thing to be happy for.) You don’t need to close a six-figure deal to make your day.
Let me be honest, I closed one of those deals earlier this month. While exciting, the excitement fades. If you’re chasing that next sales high, then life is going to be woefully unfulfilling.Instead, make it a point to stop and look around at your life every day just for five minutes and find something to be grateful for. We spend so much of our lives planning on acquiring the next thing that we often forget about fully enjoying the things we do have!
You likely spend time working to acquire the next client, find “The One” who’s going to love you/treat you right, or the next chicken dinner on PUBG (I’m a gamer). You constantly want to move because where you’re at isn’t as great as where you want to be. You show up to events and can’t wait to leave because wherever else you have to go is certainly better than here! You can’t wait to go out, then you can’t wait to go home!
Why not invest just a little bit of that time actually being happy for once? In fact, once you discover what five minutes of thankfulness does for you, why not invest in doing it more?
At one point, I got really good at keeping track of my three primary goals in a journal called “BestSelf”. Each day it has you start by listing three things that you’re thankful for. When you report back on the success of the day, it has you finish by writing three things that you’re thankful for. What a novel concept!
Maybe your routine is so stuffed that you can’t imagine trying to add another habit to the list of things that you ought to do. I mean, there are so many things we should do to live better lives, but we have to choose what we really want to invest our time in. We all know we ought to floss, but do any of us really do that? If you do, I applaud you and your dental hygiene. I’m sure your dentist is proud, and I bet you’ll enjoy a lot more than applesauce in your 90’s. 🙂
I don’t want this to become another thing on the list that must get done every day. But, I want to mentally implant that if you find yourself having a bad day then PAUSE, take a moment, and find a few things to be thankful for.
It will change your day.
It will change you!
I’m thankful that at a moments notice I can look up ridiculous memes to send to my clients.
I’m thankful that I have more than enough food to eat today! If you haven’t even considered being thankful for food lately, can I recommend a fast? I did a fast for three days earlier this year and that was the first time in my first world, incredibly blessed life that I ever felt truly hungry. Wow. Now, when I pray to God giving thanks for my food I actually mean it!
I’m thankful for my Kia Forte. Is it much to look at? Nope! But it works well, and it keeps my bills low so I can spend my money on things that truly matter, like other people!
The world and the media will constantly tell you it’s a comparison game. This isn’t about just simply thinking, “Well, I have it better than those people in (insert 3rd world country here).” It’s simply about being grateful. It’s not about just stuff either. It can be being thankful for people. It’s about being thankful for small, insignificant details like the smell of an orange as you open it and the little bit of mist it sprays. (Yeah, good luck not being thankful for that next time you peel an orange.)
Find a little slice of happiness in every day by noticing the small things and being thankful.
Thanks for reading this blog. I’m thankful that you considered it worthy to read this far. I hope that these concepts make a difference in your life.
Gratefully,
Michael Knorr
