11 Dec Reframing the ups and downs of business and life

It was mid-December 2008, and I got a Christmas card from my dear friend, mentor, and coach, Walt Sutton. Inside the card it said, “Merry Christmas to you my friend. I know this has been a challenging year for you in your business so that’s why I’d like you to write a top ten list of things you’re grateful for from this year. – Walt” He had a title of “Great things that happened this year” and then ten numbered blank lines below that. My first thought was, “there’s no way I can come up with ten things from this year, this was way too challenging of a year.”

Well, I started thinking back to January 2008, and began my list. I stopped at number 27. I couldn’t believe it. So many amazing things had happened that year that I was grateful for (including meeting my now wife, Sabrina, in March). I suddenly realized that I had been focusing on remembering 2008 for all the wrong reasons.

It’s so easy to remember the challenging and frustrating things that happen to me – that doesn’t take effort – they occupy my mind more than I’d like. Not every year in business, family, and personal is going to be just rainbows and unicorns; life is hard sometimes, but I don’t have to focus on the hardships when I have so many things to be grateful for.

I’ve created that same list every year since 2008. And I’ve done this list with my team as well, in fact, we do it every year in the Spring when we do our annual Creative Strategic Planning session abroad.

So here’s my invitation to you: grab a piece of paper and write your top ten (or 27!) list of things you’re grateful for from this year. If you’re feeling courageous and want to celebrate with others, please share your list below.