023- Taking Time to be Grateful

Show Notes:

In the busyness of life, it is important to take moments of reflection to appreciate your blessings and how far you've come in your journey to become the person you are today. As we enter the holiday season time of year and become bombarded with materialistic marketing from retailers, follow these steps to remain grounded and grateful for what you do have:

1. Take time to appreciate where you’ve come from.
2. Shift your focus to helping others. 
3. Be courteous and kind to others.
4. Take time to cherish and value the little things. 

Show Transcription:

Jeremy Epp: This week being Thanksgiving week in America, I wanted to do something a little different for today’s show. I want to spend some time talking about gratitude and being thankful for what you have.

Welcome to episode #23. My name is Jeremy Epp, and I'm here to help you set up, launch and grow a profitable business. Before we begin, do me a favor and go to JeremyEpp.com and subscribe to the show.

Growing up, there were holiday’s that I looked forward to as a child. Each holiday centered around spending time with immediate and extended family members that we didn’t always see much of throughout the year. Christmas, New Year’s Day, 4th of July, and of course Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was our biggest family gathering of the year. My mother came from a large family of 11 kids, 10 were married and had 1-3 kids each. I had 35. Cousins on my mom’s side of the family. I remember Thanksgiving events where extended family came and we exceeded of 100 people on Thanksgiving day. When you have to wear name tags at a family gathering, you know you’ve reached a new level!

Over time, my cousins were married and begin having families of their own and the numbers attending the Thanksgiving gatherings dwindled as various family members began new traditions for their growing families.

Now as an adult, I find that I enjoy Thanksgiving more than any other holiday as the focus is on family, friends, and being grateful for what you have, even with the commercialism from retailers trying to draw your attention to black Friday specials, midnight shopping, and pursuing materialism for the Christmas buying season.

I would say that I am a goal oriented person. I have a vision of what I want in the future and I create plans and steps on how to obtain that vision. Whether it be a business target, financial goal, career milestone, or personal target, I focus my energies and attention of what is needed to reach or obtain my vision. I’d like to believe that if you’re listening to this podcast, you’d be nodding your head in agreement that we’re likely similar in this area.

However, being goal oriented and focus does have a downside that is not talked about. I recently heard my Pastor say, “the beginning of comparison, is the end of contentment.” Let me repeat that, “the beginning of comparison, is the end of contentment.” We’ve all been there. We are satisfied with our vehicle until we see the technology and improvements that were made to the most recent model year. We may be content with our job, until we weren’t selected for that promotion. We’re happy in our business providing a good living for our family till we meet that ultra successful business owner who can afford multiple luxuries we only hear about on television or in the movies.

In honor of Thanksgiving week, I want to share with you a few suggestions to help you shift your focus away from materialism, and toward being grateful for what you have.

1. Take time to appreciate where you’ve come from. Have you improved your relationships with your family, create stronger friendships, improved your standard of living, your education, your health?  Focus on the good and how far you’ve come, not on steps still required to go to reach your goals.
2. Shift your focus to helping others. Go help a friend with a project, volunteer at a food bank or shelter, find a way to pour your time and attention, even if just for a few hours, into a good cause. Take the focus off of your problems and issues, and help someone else with theirs.
3. Be courteous and kind to others. When you put others before yourself, you’ll find that you’ll receive back in greater amounts. Most likely not in the same manner you give, but you’ll be rewarded more than what you give out.
4. Take time to cherish and value the little things. A hot cup of coffee with a friend or time by yourself, the beauty of autumn leaves, a walk on a crisp fall day, a good book, a leisurely meal where there is no pressing issues to rush off to. A warm coat, a running car, food in your stomach, a joke with a friend, a pet to hold. Little things combined become big things. Recognize the little things in life and take the time to focus on them for a brief moment.

By taking the time to be grateful, you’ll experience less stress, better sleep, you’ll be more restful, quicker to forgive and not let issues bother you as much, you’ll be more content with what you have, and you’ll be a person that draws others to you.

Take time to be grateful, cherish the little things, and spend time helping others this week. I want to wish you and your family all the best during this Thanksgiving week.