High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 11: 3 Proven Ways to Increase Your Gratitude

Episode Date: October 2, 2015

In this episode, Cindra discusses 3 proven ways supported by research to increase your happiness through gratitude. She starts the episode describing her experience at the 2013 Boston Marathon and why she is grateful for that experience even though it was difficult.

Welcome to High Performance Mindset with Dr. Sindra Kampoff. Do you want to reach your full potential, live a life of passion, go after your dreams? Each week we bring you strategies and interviews to help you ignite your mindset. Let's bring on Sindra. Today's episode is sponsored by Worldwide Access Solutions Incorporated, a 24-7 clear advantage, a call center providing inbound and outbound services, and a licensed life and health insurance agency. You can visit them at wasi.com. Welcome to the High Performance Mindset. This is your host, Cyndra Kampoff.

And if this is the first time that you're joining me on the High Performance Mindset today, I'd like to welcome you to the podcast. If you have been joining me since the beginning, I want to tell you that I'm very grateful and for listening every week. Today's message is about gratitude. And I start today's episode sharing a personal story of my experience the 2013 Boston Marathon. I share this story with you because I know it can impact your journey, and I know that it can allow you to be more intentionally grateful. Because gratitude is really noticing the gifts around you and appreciating what you have and the experience that you have, even though it might be difficult. And in this episode today, I share with you my experiences

at the Boston Marathon and why I am entirely grateful for those experiences. And I share today's story to help you think about your difficulties in a more grateful way. So let's turn to the full episode. In 2012, I completed the Boston Marathon. It was my third Boston Marathon. And that place, that marathon has a special place in my heart. I love the energy and passion of that race. And I even love how difficult the course is. But when the bombs went off that year, I was just a few blocks away. And as we were watching from our hotel room, watching the chaos outside our hotel window, we had heard that there were several other bombs

along the route. And my mind went to, is there a bomb in our hotel? And after a few hours of waiting, we found out that there were only two bombs and those were at the finish line. But as we waited in our hotel room that day, I was so thankful that I was a fast marathoner and that I had already finished the course. I was thankful that I could walk and talk and that I still had legs and arms and a brain. I was thankful to be alive. And when we got home I gave my two boys these incredible

bear hugs. And our nanny who was staying with our boys had told me that the day of the bombing my oldest son came home, had heard about the bombing at school and asked her, did my mommy get killed by a bomb today? So it became crystal clear to me that day that life is too short and too precious. And even though that experience was very difficult, I'm grateful for it. Because it demonstrated to me

that every single day I need to live my passion and to express gratitude for the things that I have. And what I really mean by gratitude is appreciating the small things around you and appreciating what you have, even though it might be difficult. These difficulties could be in the form of being in the middle of a national tragedy, or maybe a mistake that you made in last week's game, or a bad job performance or review from an employer. But expressing gratitude isn't necessarily something that we automatically do every single day,

but it should be something we intentionally practice. And you might be saying, well, why should I do that? There's numerous benefits that are informed by research and backed by research of why we should be grateful every single day. It increases our happiness. It decreases our depression and the stress that we experience every day. It increases our optimism for the future. We're better able to cope with transition.

And we actually sleep better, and we're more likely to sleep longer when we express our gratitude. In sport, gratitude is appreciating things that can't be scored, like friendship or developing a family on your team, even accomplishment. By being grateful it

helps us remember why we do what we do. It allows us to fall in love with the game again and we're more likely to experience the zone or flow when we express gratitude. So how do you express gratitude? Today I'm going to share with you three proven ways to express your gratitude. The first is to take what's called a gratitude visit. This is where you tell somebody or you write a note or email to somebody telling them what you appreciate about them or something that they did for you. Research has shown that taking a gratitude visit can increase your happiness by up to 10% just 30 days later.

The second proven way is to write a gratitude journal. Every day you write three things that you're grateful for. This could be big things, small things, difficulties, or amazing experiences. And this has been found to increase your happiness by up to 25%, 25% six months later. And the third, the third thing that you can do is pick a person that you're grateful for, or maybe somebody you know that you should be more grateful for. Now every day, write one thing you appreciate about that person in a notebook or a journal. And do this practice every single day until their birthday. Even if it's three months, six months, nine months,

or a year from now, what you'll notice is your appreciation for that person will continue to grow every single day and then give it to them on their next birthday. So my final point is this, when you express your gratitude, you are in one of the best emotional states possible because you're focused on the things that you have instead of complaining about things that you don't have. So today, choose one of those proven ways to express your gratitude and commit to doing it today. Have an awesome day and be mentally strong. Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset. Are you signed up for Sindra's weekly email with free mental tools and strategies for high performance? Why the heck not? Text MENTALLYSTRONG, all one word, to 22828 or visit