Motivate Yourself With Gratitude: Lifestyle Practice

Find 3 Things You Are Grateful for Each Day and Express Them

Simple Instructions:

• Notice three things each day that you are grateful to have in your life, big or small, and find a way to express gratitude for them.
• You can say them to yourself or to someone else.
• You can write them down on paper or in your reflection.
• You can express each one as they come or save the expression of all three for one time during the day.

The woman we interviewed in this video is grateful for so many things! What are you grateful for?

Why Is This Practice Important?

Have you ever noticed how good a job your head does at reminding you what’s not right in your life? It can be like some sort of drill sergeant or even anti-coach at times. I mean, when was the last time you were truly motivated by a list of things that were wrong?

Shifting your attention toward what’s right in your life is a great practice for counteracting our natural tendency. It’s not like there is anything wrong with being aware of what’s not working for you, but the right/wrong balance in most of us is way out of whack.

By expressing thankfulness for what’s right, you will reinforce how many things are working in your life. It’s easy to take the small daily pleasures, like a cup of tea or a loving family, for granted. By pulling them into the fore of your mind, you reprogram yourself to see the great in your life automatically.

Michael Stanwyck

Michael Stanwyck is the co-founder of The Whole Life Challenge, an idea that developed during his seven years as a coach and gym manager at CrossFit Los Angeles.

He graduated from UCLA with a BA in philosophy as well as a degree from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, and feels food is one of the most important parts of a life - it can nourish, heal, and bring people together.

Michael believes health and well-being are as much a state of mind as they are a state of the body, and when it comes to fitness, food, and life in general, he thinks slow is much better than fast (most of the time). Stopping regularly to examine things is the surest way to put down roots and grow.

He knows he will never be done with his own work, and believes the best thing you can do for your well-being starts with loving and working from what you’ve got right now.