Earlier this month, I went to Harvard to take a 7-day course on “Authentic Leadership.” Just like any class or seminar I attend, my goal is to always walk out with three things from it that go into a real-life application. This class was surprisingly challenging because of the amount of thought into yourself and what makes you who you are that I have never thought about.
But one of the things that I got out of it was that, at the end of every day right before you go to bed, you need to write down three things on a piece of paper that happened to you that day that you are thankful for. To admit, this didn’t happen as soon as I left the course; rather, I started it this week. It has been a crazy week with an enormous amount of travel and a lot of moving pieces, but I finally got to where I am getting into the habit of writing down my daily gratitude list at the end of each day. It is very therapeutic and so far is proving to be my newest way to stay a little saner than normal.
So today’s list goes something like this:
- Great Hotels – No, I don’t stay at a Ritz Carlton every night, but after traveling so much for so many years trying to save every dollar and stay in smaller chain hotels near the dealerships I visit, I have made a change. When it allows and there is something relatively close, I will stay at something a little nicer where the shower curtain doesn’t leak on the bathroom floor. After all, you can sell more the more charged your batteries are, right?
- Clients Who Trust – Today, I had a couple of different client meetings and assumed I was fully prepared with at least 200 pages of material for each one. However, the focus of the meeting was on their business and ideas I had that were not in the 200 pages sitting on the desk. The only pages that mattered and got any attention were the ones with the overall budget, but both clients emphatically said – “I trust you.” That makes you feel like you have done a lot right to be entrusted with that much money.
- People Who Recognize You From Afar – While getting to my last stop of the day, I checked into my hotel, dropped off my bags in the room and went downstairs to the restaurant for a quick bite. While planning to eat at the bar by myself, I walked in and saw an old friend who technically is a competitor but also someone who cares because he always refers business to me when he can. I haven’t seen Tim in 14 years, but as I walked up to the hostess (where he was standing by waiting for his guest) I said “Tim?” he said “John Paul?” and we reconnected just like it was yesterday since we last met. Knowing people by their personality sometimes makes you feel like you never even have missed them.
So take the advice or leave it, but this is a great way to keep yourself sane while navigating through the busy world that we deal with every day.