Attitude and Gratitude

Good Morning everybody. Dennis Engelbrecht with FBI, where We Build Better Contractors.

Today, I want to talk about your attitude and your gratitude. So, I was having dinner the other night with a very close 
friend who unfortunately lost his wife of some almost 50 years just recently, a few months back. And he was telling a story 
of his granddaughter, who was filling out I think her college entrance, and they have to do a little thesis there, whatever. 
And she didn't have any ideas. And Faye, his former wife was in her last days after a couple year fight with cancer. And 
Mimi, the grandchild was talking, frustrated and Faye just turned to her and said, "Well, why don't you just write about 
your attitude and your gratitude." And Mimi did. And she got into the college of her choice and all of that's great.

But it got me thinking, your attitude and your gratitude. I mean, how profound is that? Because really, we've heard this 
saying, attitude is everything. And really, I think there's a lot of truth to that. But gratitude is perhaps just as important 
and certainly important to your attitude. That attitude is everything. The extent to which your attitude affects everybody 
around you is really something that everybody needs to be aware of. Particularly those of you watching here generally are 
leaders of some type and your attitude really has a dramatic effect on the productivity of the people around you, the 
ability for them to perform and get through their day, make decisions, find win-win solutions.

Your attitude's important for you to get through the day as well. You hit roadblocks and obstacles along the way. And 
being able to pick yourself up and get back in the right direction and make sure that you're productive and that you're 
doing the things you need to do. So, attitude is so important just for your own performance and for the performance of 
everybody around you that you get in contact with each day.

Now, your gratitude, that's amazing once I started to think about it. First of all, I think it's your gratitude that keeps you 
humble. Whatever you have gratitude for, whether it's your God, your customers, your fellow employees, your coworkers, 
maybe your family, your friends, your support system, wherever that gratitude is for, it keeps you humble and keeps you 
centered. It makes you realize it's not all about you. Any successes you've had and anything you've accomplished; it hasn't 
been just you. And so, the gratitude keeps you humble. I think keeps you centered. Helps you just continue to move 
forward, helps you to navigate through difficult situations. And I think it helps you maintain a good attitude and energy as 
well.

The other really impactful thing about gratitude is it lights up the world around you. When you say thank you, and I know 
we start for example, our company meeting each time with appreciations. That gratitude, it's so powerful for people. 
People want to be appreciated. We've commented in some recent blogs and writing many times recently that, that's now 
seems to be the number one reason people leave their jobs is the lack of appreciation. So that's how powerful it is. It's a 
very powerful thing. So, when you express gratitude, that definitely lights up the world around you. It lifts others to be 
able to be their best selves and to be able to accomplish even more.

So anytime you're thinking about, well, what am I going to do today? What do I need to do to get myself back up? How 
can I be a better leader or a better person? Just think about your attitude and your gratitude. Again, Dennis Engelbrecht, 
FBI. Thanks for tuning in.