How a 1-minute action changed my life completely

How a 1-minute action changed my life completelyHow a 1-minute action changed my life completelyThe ticket to happiness and results is simple keep a gratitude journal.You can take advantage of this extraordinary success-producing path. You need only the ability to write and think.According to Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage (he spent over a decade in academic institutions studying this subject and conducting research), this activity is a foolproof method of rewiring your brain so your thoughts reflect a positive outlook.When the brain is positive every possible outcome we know how to test for raises dramatically. - Shawn AchorGiving Thanks Transformed Me CompletelyIve been cultivating gratitude for over five years. I attest to the genuineness of Achors findings. Every one of my actions or activities that can be measured has shown dramatic improvement.Over this period I doubled my reading speed I beat more than 180 personal fitness records I was sick only twice I got a better job and I obtained three professional certificatesI learned new skills I started a new career on the side I published 15 books my income doubled.I also overcame my shyness and now have new friends all over the world.Not badBut that is not all.Some aspects of life arent measurable, yet we certainly know when improvement happens. Since I began the discipline of keeping gratitude journals, my self-confidence, self-esteem, self-discipline, self-efficacy and resilience have noticeably increased or improved.Reflecting on my experience, I speculate that every action we take will have observably better results when our minds are positively focused, we just dont have methods to prove this yet.The Pareto Principle in Cultivating GratitudePareto uncovered a ratio that appears in nature, and also in human endeavor 80% of output consistently comes from 20% of input. High achievers embrace this they look for the activities that produce the most results, and concentrate on those.In gratitu de journaling, one simple, small piece of effort produces 80% of possible resultsTurn up and write your gratitude journal consistently.Yes, therbeie are some journaling best practices, but you can expend a lot more effort and only get an additional 20% on the results ledger. I keep things simple - and I dont follow most of the best practices below. But I do show up every day and keep my gratitude journals.The 200,000 people who read my Quora answer were excited. Expressing gratitude is such an easy fix for a stagnant life it can facilitate drastic improvement. However, many of my readers asked questions that indicated their focus was on unnecessary details or trivia.Whats the best way to do it? Does it make a difference if I type or write by greifhand? Should I write in a bullet-point manner or elaborate my reasons for being grateful?These readers had missed the point. As a result, many didnt even get started. However, you may also have questions like these, so I will provide Micha ls Notes for the common distractions.I want you to start, and get resultsHandwriting or typing?Scribbling wins.In 2016 I read How Your Memory Works by Sia Mojaher. This book is packed with scientific references, but my main takeaway was that a human mind remembers better when there are more associations it can attach to a memory.This is why lectures (most of the time) will anchor more concepts in your mind than dry textbooks. Youll remember not only the data, but other things like the professors tone of voice, a funny anecdote he said about discovering the specific formula, the weird face he made and the smell of a classroom.The same goes with writing by hand. It provides more associations for your mind than you get by typing. This has been proven by joint research led by French and American scientists. They mathematically and computationally demonstrated that there is a difference in how the brain controls the bodys slightest action.Writing by hand imprints a stronger signal in the web of associations that comprises your memorypeople learn better when they write by hand, than when they type. Its obvious, when you know about the associating nature of human memory.Instead of attaching one keystroke to a piece of data, your mind registers multiple discrete signals that went to each of dozens of muscle movements that are needed to write a single exakt.If you need speed and consistent legibility, you type. But when writing a gratitude journal, you want lasting and profound impressions.Handwriting will provide them.When to write?Multiple studies have shown how the way we begin our day has profound effects on the rest of it. And many people begin their day watching or listening to news. Yet there have been plenty of studies done about the harmful effects of negative news on our mood and attitude.Research has been done on the long-term negative effects of being exposed to negativity. Other studies concluded that being positive cuts the long term risk of coronary dise ases by half (researchers studied 30 years of data).One of the most interesting studies was the one featured in Harvard Business Review stating that Individuals who watched just three minutes of negative news in the morning had a whopping 27% greater likelihood of reporting their day as unhappy six to eight hours later.The most telling effect happened to people who watched transformative stories. Watchers reported having a good day 88 percent of the time.The evidence is clear enough your entire day will be impacted by your experiences at the beginning of it. And you can choose whether this is positive or negative.I recently got a katechese from a new coaching client, who struggled with procrastination. One of the small tweaks I recommended was to jot down in the morning a few things he was grateful for. This is his feedback after the first dayI had a minute in the morning to think about what Im grateful for. The effect was really good and it took me by surprise. I was overfilled wit h the positive energy for the whole day. Once again, thank you for the right on-the-spot advice.Start your day by writing entries in your gratitude journal. It will make an immediate difference to your sense of wellbeing.Three new things or the same things?You can write about the same occurrences or people for as many days as your gratitude for them remains in your thoughts.But your mind is also constantly experiencing new things. Every second, about 11 MILLION sensory impulses are detected by your brain, the most sophisticated searching mechanism known to humanity.Storing information is just a tiny parte of the brains function. Filtering is what really matters, thats why every piece of data in your memory gets multiple associations attached to it. The more associations, the easier it is for your mind to reference the data.Thus, as your mind is looking for associations and reasons to attach priority to information, give it plenty Each day, find at least three new reasons youre grate ful for something in your life a scene you saw that brought a smile a friend who helped you the taste of a meal.Ask yourself what am I most grateful for today?Your mind will act like a puppy happily chasing a ball.Throw it a question it will joyfully look for new reasons why you should be grateful.Give specific reasons or bullet points?Given that the more associations a memory has, the more powerful it is, youll probably have guessed the answer to this reflecting on your reasons for gratitude will imprint gratefulness into your mind in a more effective way than a brief note that records only, say, that someone helped you.Imagine re-reading your journal in a year from now. Use a few extra words so you can recall and re-live these moments when you read over your entries in the future. Thus, instead of merely Jack my car nice weather you might writeJack he helped me with a huge project, I can always count on him.My car it is old, yet still reliable Today I was again on time at the off ice.Nice weather constant rain over the last few days has been depressing nice to see the sun again.See? Its just a bit of additional work, but the effect is deeper.When you add reasons to your bullet points, it affects more associations. You add to your entry not just the image of the item or person you are grateful for you add your feelings, you employ other senses (the suns warmth on your skin) and you stir elder memories (how Jack helped you in the last month and a year ago).With a few additional strokes of your pen, youll make the entry much more meaningful.Be empowered Start todayWhen I discovered the immense power of gratitude, I quickly shared it with my family. My teenage son answered with a typical rebellious adolescent attitude But, I have nothing to be grateful for.Most adults are not so adamant about this point, but quite a lot of my readers were concerned about exhausting their gratitude resources.I can easily reassure everyone who is concerned about this. You wont run out. Its no more likely to happen than the worlds oxygen being used up because people are breathing it.You can be grateful for your possessions relationships weather patterns opportunities to serve or contribute to others or causes chance encounters your state of health, wealth or understanding, (and any improvement in any of those) your talents, achievements, and your progress towards goals and you can be grateful for every challenge you face and every obstacle you overcome.We are helped by many in this life, every day, directly or indirectly. Circumstances may go in our favor, misfortune might pass us by - or it strikes us and we recover. Youll never lack for things to be grateful about, once you open your mind to the infinite possible experiences waiting for you every single day.We have barely scratched the surface. Youll look back in a year, amazed at your pile of gratitude entries.Expressing gratitude is a joyous part of my dayI keep three gratitude journals I record thought s about my wife, my kids and my everyday experiences.The first two are easy, almost self-explanatory. Every day I express gratitude for the members of my family, and for their attitudes, opinions, creativity and actions.But everyday experiences?A few examples will make this clearer.When reflecting on my day, I include my various awakenings and amazements about the beauty of nature. I mention people who were generous or helpful to me, good meeting outcomes, maybe an accomplishment - even if minor. I also write about my realizations of faults and failings, because when I notice these, I have the chance to change my course. Naturally, Im grateful to get opportunities to improve myself.I write my journals in the evening. I spend five to twenty minutes on my daily gratitude practice. I write entries by hand in the diaries. At least in this aspect I stick to the recommendations I have given youTo save time, I tend to bullet point my entries. I rarely elaborate on my reflections.I regular ly find myself repeating the same reasons for being grateful. For example, I have been writing (articles, books, etc.) every day since the 23rd of September 2013, but almost every day I note my specific daily word count in my gratitude diary.However, among the many repeated items I scribble every day will always be at least three entries which I am recording for the first time.The stunning example of gratitudes immense powerWhen it comes to gratitude journaling, my hero is one of my friends from the Coach.me platform. Lets call her Diane (this is not her real name, but I want to protect her privacy).She also doesnt stick to the letter when it comes to the perfect way of keeping a journal.She often writes only one thing in her journal.She often elaborates on her entry, but not always.She doesnt write them by hand. She types her entries in the Coach.me application.Diane often repeats the same reason she is grateful. She frequently writes about meals in her journal. (By the way, foods are one of the most common things recurring in many gratitude journals this is my observation from going through many journals of other Coach.me users).She had been keeping her gratitude journal very diligently for about two years when a tragedy happened Her boyfriend died suddenly in a car accident.She had already been through tough times, she was divorced.I observed with disbelief how she kept her gratitude journal through that terrible time. It kept her sane. It kept her present for her son. It allowed her to find the strength for the everyday stuff when her world collapsed.Today Dianes streak is well over 1,000 days long.Progress, not perfectionYour gratitude routine doesnt have to be perfect. Recall that 80% of possible results come from how consistently you cultivate gratitude, not from how you keep a perfect gratitude journal.But if you want to maximize your gratitude, keep these points in mind-Write your entries in the journal by hand-Do it in the morning to positively frame your day-Elaborate on your entries think of the reasons or specifics for your gratitude-Note down at least three new thingsAnd be grateful you learned about acknowledging your gratitude. Your life transforms when you do.This article was originally published on Medium.