Saturday morning, I walked into a breakfast place here in Denver, and said "good morning" to the hostess at the front.

She asked, "What?"

I said..."I wished you a good morning," and smiled.

She was a bit taken aback and slightly surprised saying that nobody ever says that.

"Customers always come in and just instantly say how many are in their party," she explained to me.

She said my "good morning" was nice to hear.

Have we really lost that human to human connection that much?

I hope not, but in this technological age, I think it's getting worse.

However, not all hope is lost.

On Sunday, I read a heartwarming story:

An 18 year old server at a Waffle House took the time to cut an elderly customer's ham because he couldn't do it.

Despite the reataurant being very busy, she took the time to do it.

Someone snapped a picture, and it went viral.

From that kind act, she won a college scholarship and had a day named after her in the town.

All from doing what's right...which is so rare these days.

Aahhh, good 'ole human to human connection.

I love it!

My wish for you - say "good morning" to someone.

You never know when you'll make someone's day!

I wanted to give you my 3-1-3 system for gratitude.

If you follow this daily, I truly believe it has the power to change your life.

3 - when you wake up in the morning, take out a journal and write down 3 things or people you're grateful for. Don't just say what they are, add WHY you're grateful for these 3 things. Really feel it, believe it and live it.

1 - In the evening, maybe when you've put away your work for the day, think of one person that impacted you during the day that you're grateful for. This can be the co-worker that helped with a project, the spouse that you woke up to in the morning, the barista at the coffee shop who smiled at you and was kind...anyone. Take this a step further, and tell that person that you are grateful for them and why. Even better, send them a handwritten thank you card.

3 - Before you go to bed, list 3 wins for your day, big or small. We often beat ourselves up for failures or things we didn't do. I want you to go to bed in a celebratory mood. So write down your 3 wins daily before heading to bed. That will put you in a good mood when you shut the lights off.

And that's it! Pretty simple stuff, but this needs to be done each day to have the maximal optimal effect on you.

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

How rich are you?

I'm not talking about money.

I'm talking about how rich is your life?

Rich with friends, rich with experiences, rich with nature, rich with fun, rich with adventure...

We often forget about these things, don't we?

Or take them for granted.

I know I do.

A few years ago, when I was living in Denver, I escaped to Salida, a little mountain town about 2 1/2 hours from Denver to celebrate my birthday

I got to experience the peace and quiet and the beauty all around me.

I felt truly rich.

And while my business has it's ups and downs, and its challenges that I sometime struggle to get through...

This weekend was a great reminder that I am rich.

And for that, I am grateful.

OK, I'm really impressed with Mary Kay Ash, who founded Mary Kay Cosmetics.

She was known for saying, “Customer focus is truly the key. It’s the real test of service, and service is the real heart of our business.”

She also was known for writing 3 thank you cards each evening before bed, which helped grow her business to what it is now...

She hit the nail on the head. As a small business or entrepreneur, if you treat your customers like a genuine relationship, they’ll want to do business with you again. If you treat them like a transaction, that doesn’t feel good to your customer. The likelihood of them coming back is diminished.

When I lived in Denver, my favorite coffee shop was Fluid Coffee Bar. Yes they make the best cafe au lait with almond milk, but the real reason I come back day after day are their baristas. They’re friendly. They’re engaging. They know my name. They smile and talk to me. They know I run Say It With Gratitude and love Virginia basketball and that I’ve traveled to Guatemala. They give me a simple hello and ask me how I’m doing. They treat me like a human. Imagine that!

Conversely, when I lived in another part of Denver, there was a coffee shop I went to probably at least 20 times. Even though I loved the atmosphere and location, not once did any of the baristas ask me how I was, got to know my name, or said, “have a good day.” I started to resent going to that place. It felt like a transaction.

You want to have a relational business, not a transactional one. Make your customers feel acknowledged, like they belong and give them a sense of connection. Do this, and you’ll have a successful business for a long time.

Guess what Oprah, Richard Branson and Taylor Swift have in common?

They all write personal handwritten notes on a regular basis.

The late George H.W. Bush did too!

I think in this digital age, we could all use a little more snail mail in the world right now.

Don't you?

And I'm not talking about more ads and bills.

Believe me, we've got plenty of those.

Did you know that not including holiday cards and invitations, the average American household receives just 10 pieces of personalized mail in a year?

In this day in age of email, text, Snapchat and Facebook messaging, good old snail mail is almost non existent.

But we can save it!

You can send a handwritten note for any reason...to say thank you, to congratulate someone or just because you were invited to a friend's for dinner.

It stands out and means a lot more to the recipient vs. if you just shot off a text or an email.

If you're a business sending out notes, you'll REALLY stand out, which means more business for you.

Writing a note by hand feels good and makes you more creative.

With the number of hours we spend in front of a screen, we need to get away from screens and let our creative juices flow.

Handwritten notes feel good and make you happy.

Think of the last time you received a handwritten note in the mail.

Didn't it make you smile?

Plus handwritten notes linger.

A lot of us are trying to clear out our email inbox.

Handwritten notes stick around for awhile on desks or stuck to a fridge.

Getting started is easy.

Purchase some blank cards like these.

Cards that are hand-drawn or give back to charity have special meaning.

Get some stamps and a nice pen, and put everything in a box.

Now you're ready to go!

So the next time you want to say thank you to someone.

Don't get on your computer.

Get our your cards and pen instead.

You'll make someone's day.

And that's what the world needs more of right now.

I was reading an article recently from the Happier Human blog and the topic was about all the benefits of gratitude.

And some, I didn't even know about.

You've heard me talk about how gratitude can increase your happiness and optimism, while reducing stress and complaining.

But check out these 3 unusual benefits of gratitude:

1) Gratitude increases your productivity.

Those who are insecure have difficulty focusing because many of their mental resources are tied up with their worries. On the other hand, those who are highly confident are able to be more productive, because they can direct more of their focus towards their work. This operates at both a conscious and subconscious level – we may be getting mentally distracted by our worries, or more commonly, parts of our subconscious mind are expending energy to suppress negative information and concerns.

As gratitude has been shown to increase self-esteem and reduce insecurity, this means that it can help us focus and improve our productivity.

2) Gratitude improves your sleep.

Gratitude increases sleep quality, reduces the time required to fall asleep, and increases sleep duration. That means gratitude helps with insomnia!

The key is what’s on our minds as we’re trying to fall asleep. If it’s worries about the kids, or anxiety about work, the level of stress in our body will increase, reducing sleep quality, keeping us awake, and cutting our sleep short.

The next time you have trouble sleeping, play the gratitude alphabet game. Start with the letter A and think of one thing you're grateful for beginning with that letter. Then do the same thing for B, C and all the way to Z. So much better than counting sheep. :)

3) Gratitude increases your energy levels.

Research shows that gratitude and vitality are strongly correlated – the grateful are much more likely to report physical and mental vigor.

If you weren't a believer in gratitude before reading this, I bet you are now! :)

And if you aren't making gratitude a daily practice, I encourage you to start today.

A couple years ago, I had a call with the founder of Choose2Matter, and I love her message.

Choose2Matter is a global movement that challenges us to make "mattering" a way of life. When people accept they matter and know their actions count - learning, lives and worlds change.

I feel like Say It With Gratitude is on a similar mission; that is to make everyone feel appreciated.

This reminds me of the interview I did with Orly Wahba, author of Kindness Boomerang, for the Happy Life Summit. When she was in high school, she and her family went through a really tough time, and Orly had to miss several weeks of school.

In that time, no one from her school checked on her, and Orly felt like she didn't matter. From that point on, she made it her mission to make everyone she encountered feel seen. To feel like they matter.

I think this is such an important thing to think about. How can we make others feel like they matter? We all want that feeling, right? To be valued, and validated and appreciated.

Hi, it's Scott, the Founder of The Daily Gratitude Minute

For the past couple of weeks on Facebook, I've been doing Pay It Forward Friday, where I offer to send out a gratitude card in the mail to anyone who wants one.

I mean, afterall, you know how much I love to send handwritten thank you notes.

And I know how much people like you love getting cards in the mail. :)

So I want to make you the same offer.

Just email me at [email protected] with your mailing address, and in a few days, you'll have a card from me to you waiting in your mailbox.

I'm big on relationships and connection and this is one way that I can connect with you more.

This morning I was doing gratitude during my meditation session using background music from the app Calm.

Meditation and gratitude are 2 of my morning rituals and today I decided to combine the 2.

Many times when I express gratitude, I focus on the "things" that I have.

But today, I thought of something new and I am going to take this approach moving forward.

I focused on these 3 things during my gratitude session:

Self Gratitude

Gratitude for someone and why

Gratitude for anything you want to be grateful for

1) Self Gratitude - what is something about yourself that you're grateful for. This is important as we often are critical of ourselves and don't take the time to appreciate a characteristic or trait about ourselves. So this morning, I expressed gratitude for my humor and my ability to make people laugh.

2) Gratitude for someone and why - it's easy to express gratitude for someone, but take it deeper and really think about WHY you're grateful for that person. Make it even more meaningful and send them a handwritten card. Today I expressed gratitude for my dad and his desire to learn more about what I'm doing with my business.

3) Gratitude for anything you want to be grateful for - this is pretty self-explanatory and it's often how we think of gratitude. Today, I expressed gratitude for my apartment. It's getting cold here in Denver and there are lots of people without homes. I'm so grateful I have a warm place to go each day.

I'd love to hear what you think of this new gratitude approach. You can even reply to this email and let me know what you're grateful for today using the above formula.

If you're a teacher or other educator, here is a cool gratitude activity to try with your classroom.

Or if you are a parent of kids in school, you can suggest this:

Gratitude Cards for the Community.

Write cards of gratitude and deliver them to people in the greater school community, e.g., janitor, food staff, school administration, teachers, school nurses, etc.

Expand this exercise to include the local community, such as police, fire station, bank, grocery store, hospital, electricians, etc.

Among other benefits, gratitude helps kids feel better about school and makes educators feel less emotionally exhausted.

Try it out!!