Bite-Sized Gratitude

Everyone likes bite-sized treats. I know this because I restock the snack table here at CTC, and those mini candy bars disappear quicker than Amazon prime can ship them to us. Well folks, if you can consume mini Snicker bars by the handful then you can engage in this bite-sized gratitude practice--it’s just as easy and just as enjoyable.

Every Monday is CTC, we kick off the week by sharing something we are grateful for. This is a simple and effective way to bring gratitude to the forefront of your mind and rewire your brain to have a positive focus. Then, the meeting ends and we migrate back to our desks to slay every new challenge that is thrown our way. WARNING! If we’re not careful, our task list, with its endlessly codependent cry for attention, can quickly zap away that grateful mindset.

As the CTC Culture & Care Specialist, my “job” is to increase awareness of how our collection of rad individuals function in this ecosystem together, constantly impacting one another for better or worse. I don’t have any stats to back this up, but I’m going to take a chance and say that expressing gratitude falls under the “for better” category.

Here is the world’s simplest way to keep gratitude at the forefront of your thoughts AND promote a culture of community without sacrificing too much of your bandwidth. Just follow the steps below (seriously, test it out today).

Engaging in Bite-Sized Gratitude:

Step 1: Grab that colorful cube of sticky notes you have on your desk

Step 2: Identify someone who has impacted you positively in the past 24 hours*

*This can be work-related, such as lending a helping hand in a project, but it can also be more personal. Think through some ways that someone has inspired you to be a better version of yourself.

Step 3: Write down a sentence or two describing the action of the person & how it impacted you

Step 4: Put your ding-dong ditching skills to good use by sneakily getting your note onto their desk

Whoosh, you’re done! I bet you didn’t even break a sweat. You probably even have time to drop by the snack table for some mini Snickers before getting back to the grind.

Expressing gratitude should not be a daunting task. Make it bite-sized, make it manageable, but mostly importantly, make it happen. A little bit goes a long way. I want YOU to impact your work-space culture today.

Applebee out.