It’s November, the month of gratitude. Although I would suggest that all hours, days, and months are good times to pause and feel gratitude. Focusing on what is good, and what is working in your life, helps to shift your brain and notice all that is right.

I have an assignment that I use with all of my executive coaching clients. I ask them to think of five work-related things that they are grateful for and to send me just one each day (yes, each day).

Here are some of their responses.

“I took a sick day today.  I am grateful that there are people in my office who can cover for me.”

“Grateful to be traveling to Boston for work.  I really like Boston.”

“Thankful for my flexible workplace.  I am working from home today. Picked up my daughter from daycare and usually my wife does it.  I got a big hug.”

“Grateful for a leader that believes in me.”

“Thankful for a salary that pays my bills.”

“I appreciate how brain challenging my work is!”

“Grateful for the fantasy league my colleague started.”

“Thankful for the kindest patients.  One gave me a hug today.”

“I am grateful today is over.  Rough situation, but it’s over now.”

“Coffee.  That’s all I got today.”  

“Thankful for my two gigantic screens, I used to only have one.”

“Appreciative that my boss flew out to help me with a difficult situation.”

“Martha, I am appreciative of Martha.  We have lunch together most days.”

“Spell check.  It’s the little things.”

“Grateful that one of the kids in my class was formally adopted this week.”

“Grateful for my own attitude.”

When my clients send in their responses, I don’t judge the gratitude. I just welcome it. It’s fascinating for me to watch their progression. It is so much easier for them to see all that is going right, once they stop and actually look for it. I also get my own burst of positivity as the messages come in throughout the day, making me stop and notice what is going right in my work.

If you would like to do this exercise, I welcome you to send me one gratitude statement each day, and I will do the same. It will be a great way for both of us to pause and be grateful for knowing one another and for our work.