Latest / The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast / Episode 249. Practicing Gratitude: A Key Skill for Personal and Professional Growth

Transcript

Episode 249. Practicing Gratitude: A Key Skill for Personal and Professional Growth · The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker: Today, I want to dive into something getting into how to be more. Grateful and gratitude. This is something that is so, so important. You want to be grateful. You want to have gratitude. But it's sometimes hard to recognize and do. Even for the little things. I think the little things are really more important.
• 0:01
  And, and when I think back on the different things that I've been, I've been grateful for. It's changed where I used to be grateful for, and I still am grateful, I guess, traveling, some of the people that I used to hang out with, getting to see going on certain trips or camping trips or adventures, you know, that I was great, and I still am grateful to have that opportunity to do that, but I'm, I'm really grateful for a lot of the things that are around me and surrounding me now, especially in the growth, Of refrigeration mentor and seeing how it is helping people.
• 0:02
  This is what, what makes me super proud. I had, , one of my teammates on refrigeration mentor team said that like, Trevor, you know what? You're supporting my family. You're helping me take care of my family. And you know what that means so much to me.
• 0:03
  When he told me that I was like, man, that is amazing. That that is amazing that, this organization can have such an impact on someone's life. And I thought about that and I'm like, I'm, I'm grateful to have the opportunity to be able to do this for others This is what I'm trying to do. I want to help more people get the best of their, their accomplishments, what they want to achieve, how they want to support their friends and their families and the people around them.
• 0:04
  And I'm so grateful for that. , I've read a lot of books on, how to become grateful, how to recognize it. It is another. Skill that we have to work on. There's so many things pulling us in so many directions and as technology evolves, and I even see it now for, for me, I'm trying to recognize it again.
• 0:05
  I am always on technology because it's what I do for work and I work constantly because I love it because it doesn't feel like work here hanging out with all of you having a conversation doesn't feel like work. You maybe listen to this while you're driving. This doesn't feel like work to me. This feels like a community that we can share and we can grow together.
• 0:06
  And that's what I love about it. Is there work in it? Yes, there is. But that gratitude should be something that you think of and you look at as a part of your life.
• 0:07
  Because people recognize that. People can see. , see that from your body tone, from the things that you say. All these different things. So I think that's really, really important and there's different ways to do it. Some of the things that I've read, it's like keep a gratitude journal.
• 0:08
  That's something that I haven't really kept or did, but what I have done before is wrote down some of the things that I was, I have been grateful for. And I think maybe that's something that you could do as well. Take the time and write down all the things that you are grateful for. Well, I'm grateful to be able to own a house, if you own a house.
• 0:09
  I'm grateful to have a job. I'm grateful to be able to eat, drink clean water. You could start with the basis. I'm grateful that I have all my teeth. If you have all your teeth, you know what I mean? Like it doesn't have to be something always big, but as you start to build that list, you'll be like, Holy smokes.
• 0:10
  I have so many things in my life to be grateful for. Even when there's those tough and hard days, when, when. Something happens at a job or when a conversation with, uh, someone in your family goes awry and, and I think taking the time to once again, think about the things you are grateful for and you have gratitude for, it will give you a different outlook on some of the things that you are doing, because I know it has definitely helped me and I consistently see me continue to grow.
• 0:11
  And I'm so grateful for the team that I have now at Refrigeration Man. And how they're, they're They're spending their time to help me, , grow this business, grow together. And it, you know, it excites me. It makes me want to work harder for them so I can help them be more successful. That's really what I want.
• 0:12
  I want them to become successful. So I'm grateful that I have this opportunity to help other people's lives, to help their families. You know, because some people are, well, why, why am I grateful to be able to go out and buy groceries, for an example? It's a, it's a nuisance.
• 0:13
  I wish it just delivered to my house. Well, you can get that if you want, but the thing is, is that you have the opportunity to be able to do that. Some people don't. We have so many things, like I, I'm here talking to you. This is amazing. You know, some people, you know, we can walk, we can talk, we can see all these things that we could take for granted. But really, practicing gratitude, it can happen in different ways. You can, you can say it out loud, the things that you're happy for by yourself, if you want, that you're grateful for, you can write it down.
• 0:14
  You can have a gratitude jar, there's a thing that is, so, so really any, all the good things that happen, you can take notes and put it in, in there, and then you can pull out all these notes and look at them. Know what, once a, once a year or once a quarter and just take a look at that. You can meditate, which is still really, it's not something super easy for me.
• 0:15
  My meditation is going to the gym.
• 0:16
  Even just saying that to you right now, I'm super grateful that I have the opportunity to be able to do that. You know, you have the opportunity to, to come home and be grateful that you have a family home there for you if you do, and that you care about and you love.
• 0:17
  I was in a situation, um, Years and years ago where it was like I was working, uh, weeks and months straight days, long hours, and I wasn't as grateful as I was today. I was like, well, I get home and food's not ready or clothes aren't done or there's a mess somewheres. And then I was always, I was complaining, thinking that someone else's job to do it, to get it done.
• 0:18
  And why is it not done where I should have been grateful that I've even had a place to come home with. So you got to be grateful that you had that time that once a week that you come home and there is dinner on the table, like, holy man, this is amazing.
• 0:19
  Be thankful. Not be like, well, it should be done every night of the week. Like if you're in that mindset, you're not in the right place and you're going to change the way you think. To really help the people around you. And I know gratitude goes a long way. People see it. You see it all the time. Cause we're all on a journey right now.
• 0:20
  All of us, we're all in different stages of our journey, and we're going to continue to move along this journey. If you like it or not, because there is going to be one day when it comes to the end. So you want to think about today, what you're grateful for, you do have a job. Maybe you don't like anybody that you're working with, but I don't quit your job right now.
• 0:21
  Be grateful that you have a job until you find that next step, and I tell this to the people all the time, like some of these people, I don't like my job, I don't like the people. There's a lot of negativity. I know it sucks, but don't just quit your job to have nothing to go to.
• 0:22
  And same with, if you ever wanted to start a business it's great. If you want to start a. A business but you got to plan
• 0:23
  another thing that can really help With gratitude is reflected in those difficult times, those times you did have a struggle, the time that you did have that tough conversation and you recognize that, okay, I learned from it, be grateful that you are continuing to learn. This is the process.
• 0:24
  This is what we're doing. We're learning and we're growing. , so reflecting on some of those things that you overcame, you're like, wow, that was a tough time, but I, I'm here. We made it through and be grateful for those things. This is something that's going to take a lot of practice. It's not going to be super easy.
• 0:25
  We think it's easy to be grateful. Yeah, that's easy. It's easy. But once again, we got so many thoughts going on in our head. So many things going on. It's hard to take. Step back and look at the bigger picture because you've got to put out this fire here. You've got a phone call from here. You've got a friend calling you there that needs some help.
• 0:26
  Someone, your neighbor here needs some help and it's all coming in. And, but the thing is, sometimes you get to just stop for five minutes and, and take some time to yourself. Embracing challenges, embracing the uncomfort of certain situation is going to help you grow. All, all successful people that you see follow even successful technicians or service and business owners, people that you look up to, they get in their, their uncomfort zone, a lot.
• 0:27
  Outside of that real comfort zone, you know, that's how they grow. That's how you get, that's how you got to where you are today. A lot of you, you don't, maybe not notice it, but that first job interview you went to,
• 0:28
  and what you want to do is, Just do one thing a week. So starting from today, one, one over the next seven days, put it in your calendar. See on Tuesday at 12 or at lunchtime, whatever, whatever it is, I'm going to take five minutes, I'm going to think about all the things that I'm grateful for.
• 0:29
  That happened over the past week. Just do that one little, just do it once a week, just put it in the calendar and then do it now that you don't, don't even do it every day, just do it once a week to start out and then you see it all of a sudden you'd be like, man, I, I'm grateful for a lot more things.
• 0:30
  And you're going to feel yourself change a little bit. You're going to feel things differently because you're thinking about all these things. I was grateful to go be able to fix this problem. This customer had that nobody else could, could, could fix. You're not doing it for ego or anything like that.
• 0:31
  You're doing it because you're grateful that you have the opportunity to be able to help somebody else and I know for sure. You'll see and start thinking differently about stuff, especially about, uh, gratitude. It's huge for people that are around you, especially spouses, kids.
• 0:32
  We all need to be really grateful for, for them. And especially if it's a family that you care about and you're doing all this for. All this stuff that you're doing for, you're going out to work and, and work with all the, you know, spend the hours and on calls and stuff you're doing it for, for your family.
• 0:33
  There's some doing it for you as well. There's nothing wrong with doing stuff for yourself. You're working to make more money to maybe get a bigger house or maybe to get a piece of land that you can put a garden in or whatever it is. There should be some of this, what you're doing all this for, for yourself, but a lot of it, you're doing it for potentially your family.
• 0:34
  to help them out, your parents or whatever. And so thinking about that and thinking about when you do come home, maybe think about being a little bit more grateful