I used to think gratitude was just another woo woo habit to add to an already overflowing list of stuff I wanted to fit into my days.

But taking some time to jot down what you’re grateful for every day, actually has real practical value.

After a few days or weeks you repeat the same handful of items. Whether it’s your health, your family, your mentors etc., it will feel at first like it’s pointless. But it’s not.

Writing down the same things over and over makes them front and center in your mind and that’s the usefulness of the process.

It’s more than just a process, it’s a practice. And like any practice, the more you do it, the better you become.

The more you focus on what you’re grateful for, the more you’ll calibrate your perspective on the values that are important to you. And those that aren’t, get tuned out.

Simple example: the more I focus on how grateful I am for my health and body, the more I’ll pay attention to any signal from it that I need to adjust. Pain in my elbow? Ok, let’s recalibrate my workout schedule.

Being grateful reinforces your values and sometimes demands that you reconsider them.