With Thanksgiving right around the corner here in the US, I’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude. It’s hard to read anything in health and wellness research these days and not see something about gratitude’s health benefits.
According to the Mayo Clinic, gratitude is correlated with improved sleep, mood, and immunity, as well as lower depression, anxiety, pain, and risk of disease. Yet, while the health benefits may be clear, we don’t all express gratitude each day. That is, in the language of Jobs to Be Done (JTBD), we don’t hire it.
And doing so doesn’t always come easily. My husband and I actually started the practice of sharing gratitudes at dinner in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when hope was not abounding, work was intense, and life was isolating. Despite the challenges, the habit stuck, and now my daughter is quick to remind us to share our three gratitudes from the day when we launch into any other dinner conversation. I share this, because even knowing gratitude’s benefits, I don’t always remember to make the “hiring” decision.
When solutions don’t get hired, the theory begs the question: why is that?
In today’s piece, we’ll look at why we should hire gratitude every day, not just once a year on Thanksgiving. Then, going beyond the why, we’ll look at how we might actually go about doing this on a daily basis.
The “big hire” vs. the “little hire”
To outline why and how we might hire gratitude in small ways throughout our daily lives, as opposed to solely on significant holidays like Thanksgiving, I want to talk through the JTBD concept of big hires vs. little hires.
Let’s say you like to drink coffee in the morning and to save on the expense of buying coffee on the way to your office, you decide to buy a coffee maker. In the language of JTBD, buying the coffee maker is the “big hire.” That’s the first step to making coffee at home. But the big hire alone isn’t enough—you also have to make a “little hire” each morning to achieve the desired progress of reducing out-of-home coffee expenses. So, each morning when you decide to make coffee at home and put the coffee beans in the coffee maker, you make the “little hire.”
Similarly, celebrating Thanksgiving and expressing gratitude with family and friends that day is a way that we execute a “big hire” of gratitude. But what do “little hires” look like for gratitude? Because it’s these expressions of thankfulness that seem to benefit our health, even improving cardiovascular outcomes.
How to put gratitude into practice, in a way that works for you
Many of the articles linked above also include recommendations for how to incorporate gratitude into your daily life. Suggestions include gratitude journals, sharing your gratitude with your family at dinner, writing a note to thank a friend, redirecting your thoughts to the positive aspects of the day when you encounter something negative, etc.
However, theory would suggest that what you “hire” when expressing gratitude isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, it depends on your JTBD. That is, your specific circumstances and the progress you desire. To better uncover these factors, consider posing the following questions to yourself:
- When was the last time I “hired” gratitude?
- What, specifically, did I do? (i.e., did you write a thank you note, write in a journal, call a friend to thank them, thank a teammate, etc.)
- What was I doing or feeling right before I expressed my gratitude?
- How did it make me feel?
- Do I want to feel that way again? Why or why not?
Understanding the progress you’re seeking when it comes to practicing gratitude may lead you to “hire” the best approach to expressing it. For example, let’s say that last week you gave a great presentation at work, and afterward, you thanked your teammates for all of their collaboration and hard work to help make it happen. After you did, one teammate shared that your gratitude came just at the right time, and it made them feel appreciated and valued. They were going through a tough situation with their roommate, and knowing they were doing a good job at work was really helpful. Their response made you feel like a caring person and a great leader.
So, perhaps expressing your gratitude in a journal, calling a friend, thanking a teammate, or sharing your thankfulness with your family is the best way to incorporate “little hires” of gratitude in your life. But, maybe it’s not. Pick what fits your circumstance and desired progress best, because the hire that helps you get the job done is the one you’ll come back to again and again.
And after all, that’s what yields the positive mental and physical health benefits you may be seeking. Or maybe not. Maybe those are just a bonus…
