A common theme that I hear from clients about courses is “I know this is good stuff, I’m just really busy right now!”
Well, yes.
Every serious entrepreneur I know is always really busy. I am really busy. It’s why I have created some tools to help you plan and manage your time for efficiency and effectiveness. It’s also why having a plan in place and in practice that supports your emotional wellbeing NOW – not just when you feel like you have more time for it is critical.
Gratitude isn’t just for the good times; or the times when you have “space” in your life for it.
Gratitude is a survival tool that needs to be used all the time. It’s like brushing your teeth – it’s just gotta happen and if it doesn’t there will be a price to pay in the long term and no one is really going to want to get close to you in the short term because of the halitosis.
If you are “really busy” and stressed out and feeling like you don’t have time for even five minutes of intentional gratitude, what happens to your emotional health? We get cranky. We take perceived slights personally and then get reactive. We get down… and unproductive. The world and work feels heavy.
I know this is happening when I see clients crank up the stress levels, slip into self-fulfilling cycles of unproductivity, or distractions take over. When I talk to an entrepreneur who is working a ton of hours and not getting business, or operating from reaction rather than planning and good boundaries, it is a signal that there just isn’t a healthy amount of gratitude in place.
It may seem like a healthy gratitude connection is a luxury, but it isn’t! It is really a business necessity.
I follow a business coach (I worked with her for several years and I think she’s a genius at what she teaches) who recently found fitness. Like really BIG fitness and is shifting her lifestyle to accommodate activities like triathlons… and she’s really inspiring. She’s all over social media talking about the benefits that fitness has brought to her business as well as her body and mind.
I have coached serious athletes who were also entrepreneurs in the past, and what I know about this kind of physical activity is that it promotes serotonin (the feel good brain chemical) and circulates the blood and allows the body to more efficiently regulate stress responses. This kind of training requires focus, dedication (even when it isn’t convenient or doesn’t feel good), and planning/training. You don’t wake up one day and decide that you are going to hop off that couch and go run a half marathon if you haven’t been planning and training for it. You would end up injuring yourself.
So what does this have to do with a gratitude practice? Living with a commitment to a strong and clear gratitude practice also promotes serotonin. A healthy gratitude practice regulates your nervous and emotional systems to stay calm and clear in the sh** storm.
It’s providing the same kind of emotional benefit as that marathoner only without the cardio. 😉 Oh – and if you don’t practice gratitude regularly but decide to hop into the deep end with it, you won’t get injured! You may experience overwhelming joy and a get little giddy, but nothing that will take you to the ER.
I feel like I need to add a disclaimer here: yes, physical health is critical. Go move your body. Get your blood flowing and the oxygen moving. Your body is the vessel that supports your ability to do the work you want to do in the world. Treat it right!
If you shift to treating your gratitude practice into a necessity like brushing your teeth, it just becomes natural and will go with you despite being busy, or on vacation, or not in your typical routine. It will keep your emotional response healthy and minty fresh!
So don’t be that person who doesn’t brush their teeth this morning and then goes and spreads that halitosis around – do your gratitude and keep your emotional health minty fresh!
Wishing you minty fresh emotions –
Jenell
