There is nothing like achieving the success you want to make you grateful, but eventually, the newness wears off, and you forget to be grateful. There are so many opportunities to be grateful each and every day and so many reasons to do so. For one thing, people around you will be happier and much more willing to spend time with you. You’ll be happier and have a more positive attitude. You’ll also find that everyone is more willing to help you when they know that you’re grateful for everything that you have and everything that you receive.
People Who Feel Entitled
You have probably encountered people who feel entitled. They somehow believe that they deserve to have success without working for it, even though all of the other successful people in the world have had to work their butts off to get where they are. These people are always negative; they whine and complain about any work that they have to do and believe that the world should be handed to them on a silver platter. If you are one of these people, stop! If you know people like that, make sure you avoid ever falling into that trap because it is a pit of negativity that is very difficult to crawl out of.
Be Grateful for Your Opportunities
Be thankful for the opportunities that you have. If you live in a developed country, think of all the people around the world who don’t have the opportunities that you have. Think of people who not only don’t have access to the Internet and the ability to start their own business, but they don’t even have access to clean water or electricity. The opportunity to build a business and achieve that much success is nothing to be scoffed at. If you have that opportunity, you are a very lucky person, and you should be grateful for it.
Also, you should be grateful for the teachers that you have and the information that you’re able to acquire, from the Internet or whatever sources you are using. You should be grateful for your teachers, that they have the knowledge to teach, and that they are willing to teach you. There are successful people out there who don’t subscribe to this particular thought model, instead of taking the approach that the more people they share the secret of their success with, the more competition there will be. They believe sharing their knowledge will somehow devalue their own success, even if shared with those, not in the same industry. However, most successful people are really grateful for those who help them get where they are today.
You’ve probably heard of Tony Robbins. Tony is a motivational speaker, author, and very successful individual. Even with as much success as he’s had, and all the things that he has done to create this environment for himself, he is still immensely grateful to the people who helped him get where he is today. In a recent interview with success.com, Robbins said that he is still grateful to his earliest mentor, a man named Jim Rohn, who motivated Tony Robbins when he was very young. Follow Tony’s example and be grateful because there are benefits, not only the ones mentioned in the first paragraph of this chapter but also some pretty amazing benefits for your business itself. Science can’t seem to find a metric to measure, but people that are grateful for all the opportunities that they had and all of the people who have helped them, are more likely to be successful than those who are not, and are usually several times more successful.
Practice Being Grateful until You Get it Perfect
It’s okay if you don’t feel that you’re at the point where you can be very grateful. Like anything else, being grateful takes practice. You might actually have to think hard about what you have to be grateful for when it comes to your business, or you may have to wait until you actually do have something to be grateful for. The point is, start changing the way that you think. This grateful attitude goes along with everything else in this book. You are just being grateful because you should, you’re grateful because it changes you as a person; it makes you a better person, and it magnifies your success.
Start a Gratitude Journal
One of the things that you can do to become better at being grateful is to start a gratitude journal. A gratitude journal is when you sit down at the end of the day and write down some of the things that you’re grateful for. You can use your computer, sticky notes, a mirror, a notebook, a pen, or even a smartphone app if you prefer. Feel free to be creative! Just as long as you spend a little time each day thinking about what you have to be thankful for, writing it down, and using it to further your success.
Ways That You Can Show Your Gratitude
One of the things that you can do to give back is to use whatever assets that you have gained from being successful to help someone else. For example, let’s say that after a few months, you’ve established a stable income for yourself through your business. Why not donate $100 or 5% of your income next month to a nonprofit that assists the homeless or helps low-income students become entrepreneurs themselves? You could even outsource some of the things that you need for your business so that other people can make money too.
If you can show the world that you’re grateful, the world will keep giving you opportunities and information to help you be successful. It sounds hokey, like some sort of new-age philosophy, but it truly is the way success works, and if you talk to anyone who has achieved a decent amount of their goals they will tell you that a positive attitude, gratefulness and a willingness to learn are all keys to success.
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