Weaponize Your Thankfulness
Could thankfulness make all the difference in your leadership?
I coach a lot of leaders. Some have fared better than others this year. I’m not judging anyone. 2020 was/is a beast. Even so, some have handled this year better than others. As I sit here the day before Thanksgiving I’ve given some thought as to what made the difference between the leaders who held their own and thrived and those who lost some ground.
One Word: Thankfulness.
Thankfulness is an attitude of the heart that decides to elevate the good over the bad. Two parts here: Attitude of the Heart + a Decision.
The Heart.
We don’t talk much about the heart in the business realm. But we take it wherever we go. Our heart is the deepest place within us. The place where our beliefs, values, hopes, and dreams reside. There's some bad stuff in there too - wounds, fears, etc. Even though we often try to hide what's within our hearts, when life kicks our butt we tend to lead with it. We’re designed that way. What’s inside our heart leaks out - the good and the bad - in a trial. Thankfulness will cause the good within our hearts to show up. Our people desperately need the best of our hearts to show up in a crisis.
The Decision.
We have to decide what information is going to reign supreme in our minds. Are we going to look at the bright side or descend into despair? It’s our decision. This may take a little practice for some of us (I mean, I’m Irish. My acerbic wit and sullen mood are always on tap.). We can decide to see the positive. This is not always natural. But it is necessary to operate with thankfulness.
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Thankful Snowfall
It was on April 15th. Due to the pandemic, my wife was laid off from work and I just received three calls in a row from key clients that were reconsidering if they could retain my services. On top of that our two-year-old daughter’s daycare was closed. So here we were, two VERY DRIVEN career people, out of work or under-utilized, taking a working-hours walk with our daughter. Then it started to snow. Hard. Yep, heavy snow in the middle of April. I looked at my wife and said: “Babe, I think we’ve hit the bottom.” She just looked at me with despondent brokenness. Just then, our daughter ran and threw herself down on the snow-covered ground. She rolled around and began to shriek with joy. She was so happy to be playing in the snow so late in the season. At that moment, my wife and I had a decision before us. We could let the present turmoil of our careers take us down or we could let our daughter’s joy become infectious. We chose the latter.
Current state: my wife has a better job and all of my clients retained me through the pandemic. But we decided to have a thankful attitude BEFORE we saw the turn-around. And that attitude sustained us when we couldn’t derive purpose or pleasure from our work.
How have you fared this year, leaders?
I challenge you to tune your mind into the good things that are happening around you. Let that positive fixation penetrate your heart. It’s a decision you can make. We have a little bit of daylight left in 2020. It’s not too late to take this year and make it into something awesome.
I bless you and yours this Thanksgiving,
Tony Woodall
Founder
Rootstock