Welcome back to the Daily Gratitude Minute. This is Scott Colby from Say It With Gratitude. Today I was practicing my keynote talk, which is, uh, creating a happy workplace by developing meaningful connections and leading with gratitude. Um, and I was just kind of reminded about how important it is to.

have a happy workplace. And one of the big benefits besides creating a team or having a team that wants to stick around longer, so you know, they're not, uh, looking at switching jobs, which forces a company to. Hire new peoples. Turnover is a huge cost to companies. But the other cool thing about having a happy workplace by having a team that feels connected and appreciated is they will recruit people to join your company, your organization.

So if you do have any job openings, which sometimes, especially in this day and age, these positions are tough to fill. Imagine having a team. Ready and willing to recruit for you because they're so happy. You know, if you have happy employees, they're going to want to have their friends and people that they know work for the company as well, so they will actively recruit for your team.

So that's just another benefit of having a happy workplace. So not only a, a group of employees that stick around longer. But also they will actively recruit for you should you have openings in your organization. So just another reason to have a happy workplace, and you do that again by appreciating your team and having meaningful connections amongst employees.

I'm Scott Colby with Say It With Gratitude, and this has been the Daily Gratitude Minute. Cheers.

Welcome back to the Daily Gratitude Minute. This is Scott Colby from Say It With Gratitude. I often talk about starting your day with a morning routine, which may include expressing gratitude, but what about gratitude? In the evening, I think it might be a good idea. You know, a lot of us go to bed and we have anxious thoughts.

We're worried about the future. We're thinking about things that happened to us in the past and that, uh, can affect our sleep. Many of us don't have an evening routine, or at nighttime we're doing things like scrolling social media. And watching the news, this can put negative thoughts into her head right before bed, and that can't help.

you have a good night's sleep. So what if you instead planted some seeds of gratitude in your head right before bed? It could be anything. Things that we've talked about before, keeping a gratitude journal before bed where you're writing down, uh, maybe good things that happened to you during the day or just things that you're grateful for in life.

Maybe write a handwritten note before bed each evening. Um, that could be another thing that you could do or, or just think about the things that you have in your life, um, that are good. Uh, and you don't even have to write. Things down. You could just have these as thoughts in your mind. There's even gratitude themed meditations that you could do.

So you can look those up online on YouTube or any of the various meditation apps that are out there. So my, um, hope for you is that maybe if you are. Already doing something in the evening, like watching the news that maybe you have a change of heart and you look at planting some seeds of gratitude in your mind right before bed.

See what difference that makes in the quality of your sleep. I'm Scott Colby with Say It With Gratitude and this has been the Daily Gratitude minute. Cheers.

Welcome back to the Daily Gratitude Minute. This is Scott Colby from Say It With Gratitude. I just got back today from my Thanksgiving holiday where I spent it in Virginia with my family and I wanted to give special gratitude today to my pet sitter. My cat sitter Bailey. She watched Mia while I was.

and I'm just so appreciative of her. You know, Mia is 19 and a half years old. She has health challenges, she's got arthritis, she has kidney disease, so it's really hard for me to leave her. Um, but I feel confident with Bailey. Bailey comes in. She sends me pictures every time she's here. Bailey is actually a vet student at the University of Tennessee, so I love that she has veterinary experience and with M as health challenges, I feel really comfortable having Bailey come over and watch Mia Bailey also comes over three days a week, even when I'm in town.

To give Mia fluids for her kidney disease. So, uh, Bailey just give me a lot of peace of mind. Um, and because of her, I was able to enjoy my Thanksgiving break at my parents' house without worry. So, Bailey, I really appreciate you. Thank you so much for being so, um, uh, just really good with Mia and taking great care of her.

So what about you? Do you have anybody that you are grateful for specifically today? Let me know, or better yet, let that person know. Maybe even think about writing them a handwritten note. I'm Scott Colby with Say It With Gratitude, and this has been the Daily Gratitude Minute. Cheers.

Welcome back to the daily gratitude minute. This is Scott Colby from say it with gratitude. You know, I started the daily gratitude minute, three years ago. It was Thanksgiving day, November 28th, 2019. And the idea was to record a daily audio. That was about a minute long. Sometimes it goes two or three minutes.

Now I have not been successful at doing this daily, but here we are three years later, this is episode three 90. So it's been inconsistent, but it's pretty darn good, right? To still be doing this three years later. So today I want to share a message that I shared with you three years ago. Today's the day after Thanksgiving here in the U S so it is Friday and it's known as black Friday.

Black Friday has been regarded as the beginning of America's Christmas shopping season. And it's a day where many stores offer highly promoted sales and open very early, such as, as midnight, or may even start their sales at sometimes on Thanksgiving day. This day has also been known for customers waiting in long lines for stores to open. I'm not sure if they do that any more, but traditionally this went on for years.

Customers, we're hoping to get the best deals and even a time where there's a lot of pushing and shoving. If you can believe it or not. Imagine just kind of elbowing out people next to you. Trying to get a good deal. Especially a lot of times there's a limited number of a sale item. Flat screen TV is one that comes to mind.

It's definitely not a day where people seem grateful for what they already have. And in fact, a pretty funny, but true quote I've seen going around says black Friday, because only in America, people trample others for sales. Exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have. It's funny, but it's sad because it's true.

Now I love one of the big retailers here in the U S that has taken a stand against black

Friday.

And that's R E I. Five or about eight years ago. I think it is now. REI is chief customer officer Ben steel, joined colleagues at a table, brainstorming black Friday campaign ideas. When a novel idea came to his head. What if they just closed up shop altogether. So that's what they did. REI is not open on black Friday the day after Thanksgiving. One of the biggest shopping days of the year.

And as Ben steel put it, people thought we were crazy. Retailers were saying, why the heck would you give up one of the busiest shopping days of the year?

 And to be really transparent steel didn't know if it would actually work, but he wanted to focus on his employees. Ultimately the risk paid off in the REI team found that much to their surprise. The mass of anti shopping effort in campaign seemed to resonate for both customers and retail workers who had grown weary of black Friday.

Imagine working these long hours the day after Thanksgiving, and sometimes on Thanksgiving day.

So what had initially been intended as a galvanizing moment for REI employees?

Has evolved to, into a larger cultural movement.

REI uses this hashtag called opt outside, encouraging people to forego long lines.

And big box department stores on black Friday and had outdoors instead. You know, I love that because I love the outdoors.

So I want to encourage you to do the same head outside today. Get out into nature, use it as a time to get some peace and quiet time to spend.

With people that you love and a time to really reflect and think about all you have and all that you're grateful for.

I'm Scott Colby with say it with gratitude. And this has been your daily gratitude minute. Cheers.

Welcome back to the daily gratitude minute. This is Scott Colby from say it with gratitude. Today is Thanksgiving day in the United States. I don't want to wish everybody who is celebrating a very happy Thanksgiving. I am fortunate and grateful to be spending Thanksgiving with some family members. My parents.

I'm at my parents' home in Smith mountain lake in Virginia. And you know, for about 20 years, I didn't spend Thanksgiving with my family. I lived for 11 years in Dallas for nine years in Denver. And I always chose to spend Christmas time with my family and. It's expensive to fly home twice within a month. So I usually just stay put for Thanksgiving.

Uh, but now I'm blessed to live in Knoxville, Tennessee. And it's only about a four and a half hour drive to my parents' house. So I'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with my mom and dad, Jim and Gloria. And then also my sister, Jill. Her husband, Dennis, their dog biscuit. He can't leave out. And then my nephew, who I'm really excited to see.

His name is Benjamin. He is a freshman at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Uh, so my, his parents, my brother and his wife, they live out in Northern California. So, uh, Benjamin decided instead of flying all the way out to California from Pittsburgh, kind of a, an expensive flight. He decided to make the Trek to my parents' house in Virginia.

So I haven't seen him in five years. Uh, the last time I saw him was in 2017, when we all got together to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. Interesting fact. So Benjamin goes to Carnegie Mellon. I was actually accepted there for college. I didn't go there, but his dad, my brother, Chris went and got his, uh, PhD at Carnegie Mellon. So pretty cool that Benjamin's going to the same.

College that my, that his dad. Got his PhD. And then we also wanted to just express gratitude towards my family. You know, there, I'm very lucky to have them in my life. Uh, have supportive siblings and parents, very loving. Um, You know, whenever I'm in need. Uh, if I'm struggling in some area of my life, relationships or loss of a pet.

Uh, financially business wise, I've got a supportive family that I can turn to. Anytime I want for emotional support or other types of support, visit them could stay with them. Um, and it's been that way for a long time.

Uh, just growing up. Uh, had a very good, um, upbringing and that's carried on into adulthood. So I'm definitely grateful for my family. You know, not everybody has a supportive family. Um, but whoever you're spending the day with whether you're celebrating Thanksgiving or you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, cause you're in a different country, whoever you're spending the day with on Thursday here.

Let's. Give them some extra gratitude. Show some love, give a hug, flash a smile, write a thank you note. We could all use more of that in our world right now. And, uh, I just hope that you can spend.

This day with some loved  ones.

I'm Scott Colby with say it with gratitude. And this has been the daily gratitude minute. Cheers.

Welcome back to the daily gratitude minute. This is Scott Colby from say it with gratitude. I often talk about gratitude in the workplace. And when I do, I like to emphasize that gratitude in the workplace starts with you. I think it's important to have a personal gratitude practice first. Before you can spread it to others. And the reason I say that, so think about the benefits of gratitude, right. And having a gratitude practice.

The research shows. There's a multitude of benefits. A couple of them being be more positive. You have less anxiety, less stress, more. Optimism. So think about if you're living in an attitude of. Uh, not being grateful and complaining and being down and being anxious and overwhelmed and stressed. So you're not your best. How can you be expected to lift other people up with gratitude?

If you're feeling so low yourself. So I don't think you can effectively have a gratitude practice at work where you're appreciating other people. If you were feeling bad yourself. So that's why I think it's important that gratitude starts with you and that you have your own gratitude practice. First self gratitude, right?

And thinking about all the things that you appreciate in your life so that you can live a more optimistic, positive. And uplifting. Day by day life. So what are ways you can live a more gratitude? I'm not going to go into too much detail here in this episode, but find a way to express gratitude on a consistent basis that resonates with you. Maybe it's journaling.

Maybe it's writing handwritten notes. Could be keeping a gratitude jar, could be making gratitude videos for other people or gratitude phone calls. Could be doing an act of kindness or volunteering in your community. Whatever that looks like for you doing on a consistent basis. Watch to see how your attitude and mood change.

And when you're uplifted by yourself, gratitude practice, you can begin to uplift others in the workplace with gratitude as well. Hope this helps. If you want some more ideas on implementing gratitude at work, go to my free [email protected]. Got a lot of goodies for you to download I'm Scott Colby with say it with gratitude. And this has been the daily gratitude minute.

Cheers.

Welcome back to the daily gratitude minute. This is Scott Colby with say it with gratitude. Last week. I'm one of the episodes. I talked about a book that I was reading. I just started it. It's called the Mr. Thank you project. And it's about John Israel who had a goal to write five. Thank you cards a day for one year, 365 straight days, which is incredible. What a mission.

And one of the first groups of people that he wrote to, he was on an airplane and decided to write to the pilots. And he got to thinking like, Hey, what, what should I say in the card? What am I grateful for? And. He thought a little harder. And then he thought about like how these pilots. When they're flying across the country, like most weeks out of the year, they're away from their family.

But what they're doing is they're oftentimes helping the passengers. See their families. And when John thought about this, gosh, gosh, it's helping so many people, you know, spend holidays with their families or other events with their families. While they're away from their families. What a noble thing to do in this world? What a noble profession.

As well. You know, when flights are delayed or canceled, sometimes the pilots. They face the brunt of a passenger's frustration. So that's other things to be grateful for. So when you really think about what pilots go through and the, uh, dedication to their work.

We have a lot to be grateful to pilot. So John wrote a, I think on this particular flight.

You know, there's pilot and copilot, and he had a second leg of his flight. So he wrote to four pilots on one day. And I think he asked like one of the pilots who had been. A pilot for, I think 22 years. If he had ever gotten a thank you card before and in 22 years of being a pilot that pilot never had. So an incredible mission.

Uh, that pilots do John express gratitude towards them. And, uh, yeah, I can't wait to finish his book. I'll bring you more episodes. Of the daily gratitude minute that cover other lessons learned from the book. Mr. Thank you.  I'm Scott Colby with say it with gratitude. And this has been the daily gratitude minute. Cheers.

Welcome back to the daily gratitude minute. This is Scott Colby from say it with gratitude. You know, one of my favorite things to say is find what makes you happy and do more of it. We often get caught up in our to-do list. Right. I know. I certainly do. I usually focus on work more than having fun.

Or we sometimes spend our days reacting and responding to things such as emails, social media posts, and text messages. I do that as well. This goes on day after day, week after weekend month after month. But when was the last time you stopped and took some time to notice how you feel. Now more than ever. It's important to stop and take some time for our mental health.

So this week, I want you to do this.

Take out a journal or a piece of paper and write down all the things that make you feel happier. Then create some space in your schedule to actually enjoy these things. Guilt free. It can be anything I can nature connecting with a friend. Being around animals. Having a cup of coffee, just relaxing or volunteering with kids.

Now the key is to not just be aware of what makes you happy, but actually taking action and finding time to do them. You deserve to feel good. So make quality time for yourself. I'm Scott Colby would say it with gratitude. And this has been the daily gratitude.

 Cheers.

Welcome back to the daily gratitude minute. This is Scott Colby with say it with gratitude. I've got a gratitude tip from my book, the grateful entrepreneur, how you can show your customers. Uh, just that you care about them as human beings and not just as a transaction. And that's to offer sympathy.

You know, how many businesses send out sympathy cards when a family member of a customer or employee passes away? Practically none. Your business should do so. Send a heartfelt handwritten sympathy card. When your customers lose loved ones. Sometimes it's not easy to know what to say in a card. Right? So I've got a couple suggestions of the wording suggested by a woman named Florence. Isaacs could be really simple. Here's a couple of examples.

Dear Janet. I'm so sorry to hear about your mother's passing. You are in my thoughts and prayers at this time of sadness. I send my deepest condolences. Follow that with your signature. Here's one more option, dear Janet. I just heard about your mother's death. I'm so sorry for your loss. Please accept my heartfelt sympathy.

Again, simply sign your name. Such brief notes are both powerful and appropriate.  I personally also send sympathy cards when a customer loses a pet because our furry friends or families too, and clients will truly appreciate that gesture. I'm Scott Colby with Say It with gratitude, and this has been the daily gratitude. Cheers.

Welcome back to the daily gratitude minute. This is Scott Colby from say it with gratitude. So this afternoon, I ran a virtual workshop for some employees, uh, from a small company based out of Northern Virginia. And I tried an activity that I only tried once before I learned this one from Chad little field who owns a business called we and me. He facilitates connection.

Activities and events as well. And he calls this activity breakout blackout. So the group I was with was virtual. So we were all on zoom. And so if you're not familiar, a breakout is when you're on a virtual meeting using a platform like zoom and you break out in the smaller groups in a separate room.

Well in the breakout blackout, you're in a virtual room by yourself. Yep. That's right. You're in your own virtual breakout room. So, what do you do in there? Well, it depends on the purpose of the meeting, et cetera, but of course I facilitate gratitude and connection workshops. So, what I did was I had the participant search for an interesting or surprising fact about gratitude.

They each had three minutes to find a unique fact about gratitude and then share it with the rest of the group.

So everybody got into their own breakout room yet they were by themselves, which is perfect for the introvert among us. They found an interesting fact about gratitude and when they returned to the main room, Uh, everybody typed what they found and the chat, and some people shared verbally. It was awesome. And I learned a couple things about gratitude that I didn't know.

Such as people are less likely to express gratitude at work than anywhere else. And gratitude is good for your cholesterol. Just want to pass this along in case it's useful for your next virtual meeting. I am Scott Colby with say it with gratitude. And this has been the daily gratitude minute. Cheers.