From the Compass: Gratitude During The Holiday Rush

Make Gratitude a Life-Changing Habit

In the midst of the holiday rush in our profession, gratitude becomes a powerful anchor. Amid last-minute appointments and refill requests, taking a moment to reflect on what you’re thankful for can shift your outlook positively. This simple practice isn’t just a seasonal sentiment—it’s a keystone habit that can reduce stress, elevate your mood, and enhance professional relationships.

Here are just a few ways to infuse gratitude into our daily routines, turning a simple practice into a transformative force during the busiest times.

It takes just two minutes a day.

Shawn Achor, an expert on happiness and gratitude, advocates small changes and simple steps as a path to greater happiness and success in life. He proposes five key areas of focus, the first of which is gratitude. (The others are doubling positive experiences by reviewing them daily, 15 minutes of fun exercise, meditation, and conscious acts of kindness.) He has found that two minutes of daily gratitude practice is enough to realize life-changing benefits. That’s well within the reach of even the busiest people.

Make the practice of gratitude a daily habit.

Pick a regular time for gratitude. That might be before you get out of bed in the morning, as you sit down to a meal, or at a quiet time in the evening. Choose a time to practice gratitude and try it for a few days. If it doesn’t seem right—if your mind is too distracted then, or the presence of other people makes it hard to focus on gratitude—try another time and see how that works for a few days. To build any new habit, a key step is to make it part of your daily and weekly routine.
Think outside yourself. To feel genuine gratitude, focus on positive forces and circumstances, both large and small, that are outside of your direct control. That might be the kind act of a friend or a stranger, the food you eat, your spiritual faith in a higher power, a moment of calm in your day, a beautiful view, the affection of a pet, the pleasure of reading, your partner’s patience, or even finding a convenient parking space. The human mind tends to emphasize and remember the negative. Pushing yourself to think about the good tends to change the balance of how you look at life.
Think of three new things you’re grateful for every day. Gratitude isn’t as powerful when you think in generalities as it is when you think more specifically. You may be grateful for the comfort of your home or the loyalty of a friend or your partner, but you’ll get more benefit from considering new and more specific events and circumstances every day. You also won’t fall into an unthinking rut of being grateful for the same things every day.
Try it for just two minutes a day for 21 days. There’s nothing magic in those numbers, but two minutes a day, for most people, is enough time to consider three new things that they’re grateful for and to savor the pleasure of those feelings of gratitude. Repeating for 21 days is typically long enough to experience the practice as part of your routine and build the foundation of a new habit.
Notice the good throughout your day. As you get in the habit of feeling gratitude for three new things every day, start to notice those things as you go about your day. Become a collector and connoisseur of these positive aspects of your experience. That might be the song of a bird out your window, the polite action of another driver, or another person’s smile when you do something kind. Savor these experiences in the moment, then relive them in your daily gratitude practice.
Keep a gratitude journal. Some people (though not all) find it helpful to write down what they are grateful for as part of their daily gratitude practice. The act of writing—whether in a paper journal or using an app on your phone—can help to fix the positive thoughts and memories in your mind. Over time, as your gratitude journal grows, you can review past entries and re-experience good feelings you might otherwise forget.
Express your gratitude. Thank other people when they are thoughtful, kind, and generous. Reach out and thank people who have made a difference in your life, even if it was years ago. Expressing gratitude to others feels good and it can brighten another person’s day, just as they have brightened yours.

For More Information

Shawn Achor, “The Happy Secret to Better Work,” TEDx talk (2012)

Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier by Robert Emmons (2007). New York: Houghton Mifflin.

“These two-minute daily habits will make you happier immediately, researchers say,” (by Brigid Schulte, 3 July 2015), Independent.

Morgan, H. (2023, January 30). Make gratitude a life-changing habit (B. Schuette & E. Morton, Eds.). Raleigh, NC: Workplace Options (WPO).

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