Why you should practice gratitude

I'm sure you've heard about this term before, but just in case, practicing gratitude is about cultivating a daily ritual where you:

1. acknowledge you have obtained or experienced a positive outcome or situation
2. attribute an external source for this

example-
I'm thankful that my statistics study has gone so well thanks to Anki and the volunteers who created it.

Turns out that taking a few minutes out of your day to be grateful has been shown by research to have a number of benefits:

• grateful subjects reported better sleep and less fatigue, leading to improved mental performance
• grateful subjects are less likely to suffer from burnout
• grateful subjects have stronger immune systems
• grateful subjects have a greater likelihood of prosocial behavior and relationship building which can lead to more prospects in career objectives (it's not what you know it's who you know..)
• and more

So while appreciating that you have a roof on your head won't give you the words to say to ace that key interview, it does help build a solid base on which you can prepare for it.

There's a reason gratitude has been coined as the "mother of all virtues".

ps - if you're in a leadership role, take note that managers who remember to say "thank you" and show gratitude to people who work for them may find that those employees feel motivated to work harder.  Now, I appreciate you reading all the way to the end and am thankful you're making an effort to improve your life! Onwards :)