When you ask someone what they’re grateful for, you often get the same kinds of things – health, family, friends, etc. Those are all wonderful things, and we should all be grateful for them, but being grateful for smaller things can sometimes have a bigger impact.
In a recent episode of “My First Million”, the hosts (Sam Parr and Shaan Puri) interviewed Gary Vaynerchuk and it was a fascinating conversation. I encourage you to listen/watch the entire thing when you have a chance. You can view it here (or listen on the “My First Million” podcast):
One piece stood out to me, though, and it revolved around gratefulness. It started with Sam saying:
“I’m like, dude, I did not work any harder than anyone else who else, like who have done some of things, but failed. This is 100% luck. And I’m so grateful that I like it just has worked in my way in many ways.”
He’s absolutely right. I’ve worked hard to get where I am, but it took a tremendous amount of luck along the way. If you’re reading these words, you’ve been lucky enough to be born in a time with this amazing technology, and you’re financially well-off enough to at least have a phone or computer (and internet connection) to make it happen. You may feel inferior compared to your neighbor, but you’re way in the top 1% of lucky humans of all time.
Shaan took it a bit further and talked about macro versus micro, with:
“I think people make a mistake. They’re grateful in the macro.
So if you say to somebody, what are you grateful for? Almost everybody, my family, my health. And to me, I’m not saying they’re wrong. Obviously, those are great things, but it’s sort of like when a company says our values, our integrity and excellence, it’s true, but not useful. It basically has me leaves no register. And so I try my focus is how do you be grateful in the micro?
Can I be, if I’m in an elevator, can I find something in that moment? Can I get a rep, a practice rep of gratitude in that? Because that actually shifts me. When I can take a breath, be grateful for the fresh air, I can look at something my kid is doing and how silly they are and just in that moment, find something.
And if I could do that, you know, 10, 15 times a day, that is, you know, the antidote.“
Being grateful on the macro level is a great thing; I’m happy for my health and I love my family. To affect the day-to-day, though, finding things to be grateful for on a micro level can make an instant difference.
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