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Episode 4 - Gratitude · Cloud 9: The Mental Performance Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Cloud9.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Lindsay Eisenhower.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: In today's episode, we're talking all about gratitude, what it is, why it matters, and how practicing it can positively impact not only your athletic career, but your life outside of sports as well.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude can have such a powerful effect on us as human beings, and it's actually something I've been intentionally practicing since being down here in Tallahassee.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Over the past three weeks of really making gratitude a part of my everyday routine, I've noticed so many positive changes in my mindset, my emotions, and just the way I approach each day.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: It hasn't magically made every day perfect, but it has helped me become more aware of the good things that are already around me, even on the harder days.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's one of the coolest things about gratitude.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be complicated.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: It can be a simple tool that helps you bring a little more light into your life and gives you something positive to incorporate in your daily routine.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So with that being said, let's get into today's episode.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: What exactly is gratitude?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: A couple weeks ago, we talked about a really interesting study in one of my classes that looked at gratitude interventions and athlete well-being.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Before I get into this study though, let's first talk about what gratitude actually means.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude can be defined as acknowledging a benefit you've received from someone else or recognizing the value of something positive in your life.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's often viewed as a character strength, and research has connected gratitude with things like positive well-being, stronger relationships, and physical health.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: But what I really wanted to know was what could gratitude do specifically for athletes?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's where this study gets interesting.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: The researchers worked with 51 Division I student athletes, 27 male wrestlers, and 24 female swimmers between the ages of 18 and 23.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: All of these athletes were also in the middle of their competitive seasons.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Each athlete participated in a 90-minute workshop called Attitude of Gratitude.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: The workshop had three main parts.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: First, the athletes learned about gratitude and worked through different examples of what gratitude could look like in their lives.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Next, they spent about 20 to 30 minutes individually thinking about and writing down people, experiences, events, possessions, or even personal characteristics that they were grateful for.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: But they didn't just list them, they also explained why they were grateful for those things.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, they shared some of those reflections in small groups before coming back together and discussing them as a larger group.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the last part is especially interesting because gratitude wasn't just being practiced individually.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: It became something that the athletes were sharing with their teammates.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, did it actually work?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: To measure the effects of the workshop, researchers had the athletes complete questionnaires at three different points, one week before the workshop, immediately afterward, and four weeks later.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: They looked at several different areas, including gratitude, psychological distress, life satisfaction, sport satisfaction, athlete burnout, and perceived social support within sports.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: And there are some pretty interesting findings.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude increased over time and was significantly higher four weeks after the intervention compared with where the athletes started.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Psychological distress decreased immediately following the workshop and remained lower four weeks later.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Sport satisfaction also increased immediately after the intervention.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And perceived social support, basically how supported the athletes felt by the people around them, significantly increased immediately following the workshop.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: However, that increase declined by the four week follow-up.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Researchers did not find significant differences in life satisfaction across the different measurement points.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Why does social support matter?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: The social support piece really stood out to me.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude may help athletes feel more aware of the people around them and the resources they have.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Think about your own athletic career for a second.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: How many people have helped you get to where you are?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a teammate who stays after practice with you.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a coach who believes in you when you're struggling.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's an athletic trainer who's helped you through an injury.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's your parents driving you hours to watch you compete.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe it's that teammate who notices when you're having a bad day and checks in on you.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes those things happen so often that we almost stop noticing them.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude forces us to notice.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: The researchers also suggested looking more closely at whether gratitude interventions might work differently when athletes practice them individually compared to practicing them as a team.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that leads into another major takeaway from this study.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude as a mental health tool.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: One of the most notable findings was the reduction in psychological distress and burnout.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: The researchers suggested that gratitude could potentially serve as a coping skill for student athlete mental health.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is such an important point.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude doesn't mean ignoring the hard things you're going through.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean pretending you're happy when you're not.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't mean that you're grateful for something you're suddenly not allowed to struggle.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, gratitude can help redirect some of your attention toward what is going well, the resources you have available to you, and the people who are there to support you.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Especially as athletes, it's really easy to focus on what's going wrong.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't play well today.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: I struck out, I missed that shot.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Coach is frustrated with me.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not getting enough playing time.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm exhausted.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not performing the way I know I can.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Those feelings are real.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: But gratitude gives us an opportunity to recognize those f things are not the only things happening in our lives.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now that we've talked about some of the research behind gratitude, let's get into the practical side.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: How can you actually start practicing gratitude?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite ways is probably the simplest.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Write down what you're grateful for.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Every morning I write down three things that I'm grateful for.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't overthink it.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: I just write down the first three things that come into my head.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Then at night I have a separate journal where I write down the things I'm grateful for that happen throughout the day.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And those things don't have to be huge life-changing moments.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: It could literally be the coffee I had this morning, a good workout, a beautiful day outside, a text from one of my friends, talking to my family, a good conversation with someone.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's the part of what I've learned through doing this.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: There is so much good in an ordinary day when you are actually starting to look for it.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing you can try is going on a gratitude walk.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Go outside without rushing through it.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Pay attention to what's around you, what you see, what you hear, what you smell, and the things you normally walk right past even without noticing.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Another idea is to write down things you're grateful for on sticky notes and put them somewhere you'll see every day.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Your bedroom mirror, your car, your locker, or anywhere else you spend a lot of time.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: For athletes, you could even write a word like gratitude or joy somewhere on your wrist tape, shoe, or gear.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Then when you notice yourself getting frustrated or caught up in negative thoughts during competition, that word can act as a little reminder to bring your attention back to something bigger than that one mistake or moment.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude can also be an incredibly powerful tool when you practice it with other people.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: One easy idea is three good things.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: After practice, identify three things that went well or three things you appreciated that day.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: They don't even have to be directly related to your performance.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: You could also do teammate shout outs.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of practice, recognize a teammate for something you appreciated about them that day.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you say, I appreciated you coming over and picking me up after I made that mistake.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Teams can also have a weekly gratitude circle where everyone spends five minutes sharing one thing they're grateful for.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: You could also keep a gratitude board in the locker room and let athletes anonymously add things they're grateful for throughout the week.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Coaches can participate too.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: A coach could end practice by pointing out something they appreciated about the team's effort, communication, attitude, or resilience that day.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: You could even incorporate gratitude into the competition.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Before a game, instead of thinking entirely about pressure, expectations, winning, losing, or your performance, take a second and think, what am I grateful for about having the opportunity to compete today?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: And after the game, whether you won, lost, played great, or had one of your worst performances, ask yourself, what is one thing I'm grateful for from today's experience?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: You could also occasionally write a gratitude letter to someone who has positively affected your athletic journey.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: A teammate, a coach, a parent, athletic trainer, strength coach, or anyone else who has helped you along the way.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: But there's one gratitude activity that I especially love for teams.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of practice, everyone gets together in a circle and the coach asks one simple question, who made you better today?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Each athlete chooses a teammate and explains specifically what that person did.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe someone says, I'm grateful for Sarah today because after I struck out during live A-Bs, she immediately came over and encouraged me, instead of letting me stay frustrated.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Think about what you're accomplishing with one simple question.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're practicing gratitude, you're recognizing social support, you're building connection, and you're encouraging athletes to notice the way their teammates contribute beyond statistics and performance.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe someone didn't have the best practice themselves, but they were an incredible teammate.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they brought energy, maybe they encouraged someone, maybe they stayed late to help, maybe they held someone accountable.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now those actions are being noticed and appreciated.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that connects really well with the research we talked about earlier because perceived social support increased immediately following the group gratitude workshop.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: It raises an interesting possibility that regularly practicing gratitude as a team could help athletes become more aware of the support they're receiving from teammates and coaches.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if there's one thing I want you to take away from today's episode, it's this.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude doesn't require your life to be perfect.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can be struggling and still be grateful.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: You can have a bad practice and still find something good at in it.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: You can be homesick and still appreciate where you are.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: You can be frustrated with your performance and still be grateful that you get the opportunity to play the sport you love.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something I've been learning personally since moving to Tallahassee.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Practicing gratitude hasn't removed every difficult emotion or made every day easy, but it's helped me become more intentional about noticing what's good instead of allowing the difficult things to become the only things I see.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: So here's my challenge for you this week.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: For the next seven days, write down three things you're grateful for every single morning.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Don't overthink it, they can be big or small.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're currently on a team, maybe bring one of these ideas to your teammates or coaches.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Try asking each other ever after every practice, who made you better today?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: You might be surprised by how much that simple question can change the way you see the people around you.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you guys so much for listening to another episode of Cloud9.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: I hope this episode encourages you to bring a little more gratitude into your sport, your relationships, and your everyday life.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, I'll see you guys on Cloud9.