Sharing My Effective 3 Step Method to Practicing Gratitude + How it Can Change Your Life

Practicing gratitude is a key part of many successful people’s daily routines, and I first learned about it through Brendon Burchard’s High Performance Planner, where he researched the habits of hundreds of successful individuals. I was never really able to make it an effective and impactful practice for myself though, until I thought of doing it with the 3 step method I’m about to share in this episode. 

After incorporating gratitude like this into your morning or evening routine, you’ll find that it’ll bring much more happiness and positivity into your life, and you’ll live more presently. It’s a worthwhile practice to try, so be sure to listen to this quick and to-the-point episode to find out more.

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Full Transcript

Hey guys, welcome back to the Pursuing the Happy Podcast. Today’s episode is a good one, and it’s double as exciting because I have just launched my new branding today! And along with that, I have a new podcast cover which I LOVE. 

I just felt like I needed a more bolder, happy pop of orange in my branding, and so that’s my main new color now. Get excited for my new look on social media and be sure to check out my new website as well! Side note: I had a grand time redesigning my site, and now it looks super fab so yeah–go take a look around!

Now let’s jump into today’s episode, where we’re talking about gratitude and how to practice it. This isn’t just the simple thanksgiving fill in the blank kind of thing. You might have seen in fancy productivity planners or other blogs, about practicing daily gratitude. As I myself have a couple of these planners, I’ve sometimes felt like I’ve run out of ideas when filling out the gratitude part. It makes me kind of alarmed because, other than my family, friends, good food, and sunshine…do I not have anything else I’m thankful for? Am I just an ungrateful being in general? And as much as I tried to dig every morning to put something else in that blank, I found myself running out of ideas. 

But recently, I found a strategy that really makes it effective. See, there’s a certain way to go about gratitude that will help you feel more fulfilled and add to your life instead of making you feel guilty, or having the practice be ineffective. 

So here’s what I want you to do. Step one, pull out that pen and paper. Yep, as much as I sometimes like to do things in my head because it seems faster, this is important to make what you’re doing intentional. 

Next, I want you to write down positive things that have happened to you in the last day, or week. Or however often you want to be reflecting and practicing gratitude. This list might include things like, “getting 100% on a test, getting two new clients, chatting with your grandma on the phone, connecting with friends”, etc. To help you recall these moments, check your calendar, emails, or camera roll. And now notice, those are things you can be grateful for. The best part is that it’ll change every day or every week, and you’ll feel continual gratitude in your life.

There’s one last thing to do after you made your list. This might seem a little bit extra, but believe me when I say it works. I want you to read each item on your list out loud to yourself and after every item, say “THANK YOU!” . For example, “I got 100% on a test–Thank you. I spent time with grandma. Thank you.” Think about these as actual gifts being given to you by the universe and/or God. And really feel that gratitude sink in. Writing everything down is nice, but if you miss out on this verbal part, you will miss out on that true connection piece.

Gratitude is definitely something I want to make into a routine, because it really helps you live mindfully and keeps you aligned. If you haven’t tried this method of practicing gratitude yet, I would recommend giving it a shot. You could do it in the morning, or as part of your evening wind down routine. You could also play some light meditation music, or nature sounds in the background. Maybe open a window and hear the birds outside. 

So let me know how it goes. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it to social media and tag me at @happilyhedy! 

That’s it for today. Thank you so much for tuning in and finishing this episode! I’ll see you in the next one.