December 11, 2014 \ Rachel Jellinek
A Few Words on Gratitude and Optimism to Share, from John Jacobs

John_Jacobs_CropLast week I attended the Massachusetts Conference for Women and was very lucky to hear a speech given by John Jacobs, the co-founder of Life Is Good.  He related the story of his family and how he and his brother started the business.  Interspersed within his talk were plenty of jokes, some great family photos, and some flying Frisbees for the audience. 

You could tell from the beginning that his speech was going to be highly entertaining and engaging, but I didn’t realize that it would affect me as strongly as it did.  The two biggest takeaways for me were:

1)    Gratitude is not something you are just born with.  It is something that you need to be mindful about showing…a muscle that needs regular exercise.

2)    The importance of shifting your mindset from thinking and saying that you “have to” do something to thinking and saying you “get to” do something instead.

For example, instead of thinking in a complaining tone, “I have to go to a meeting,” I could replace that with the thought, “I get to go to a meeting with colleagues whom I respect for a job that I love.”  Instead of lamenting, “I have to go grocery shopping after work,” I could think, “I get to go grocery shopping because I am fortunate to have enough money to put food on the table for my family.”

The simple beauty of this idea really resonated with me and is something that I am going to do my best to practice.  Since it had such a powerful effect on me, I thought I would share it with you.