The Power of Gratitude

What are you grateful for? What do you appreciate in your life today? Right now? Even the smallest things. These questions can be much more powerful than you may think. Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group and a very successful businessman, emphasizes a practice of gratitude daily to give him a positive mindset and says that it's foundational to his success. In today's episode, we're diving into the transformational power of gratitude. From health benefits to mental benefits, relationships, productivity. We'll discover how gratitude can change your life. I'm Joe, and I'm really grateful for my pal over there, Kurt. And we are dudes in progress.

Hello, Kirk. Hey, Joe. Good morning.

What's going on, my gracious friend?

I love that introduction, and I'm so grateful for you, too, buddy.

I appreciate that, man. Well, as I normally do, I hope I don't catch off guard with this kind of stuff, but I might. Can you name three small, maybe even seemingly insignificant, but very specific things that youre grateful for today?

I love the way you worded this question. And when I first discovered the magic of gratitude, I think some of the readings that I did talked about how looking at yesterday and being very specific about what youre grateful for, because I think it's easy to say, hey, I'm grateful to live in a free country. I'm grateful that I have a home and a roof over my head or my family. But those are. I think those are easy. So I love the way you worded this, Joe. So I had to think about this. And that's the part that always, always frustrates me when I am in a season where I'm really practicing gratitude, is that I have a hard time coming up with something from yesterday that I'm grateful for. But I did cheat and see this question ahead of time, so I'm glad I did. But I'm down two pounds today on the scale, which has been a frustration for me. I've been struggling to lose some weight, and to see that on the scale this morning was really exciting. And sometimes I don't give myself credit for the things ive been doing correctly. I had an amazing lunch with my team yesterday. I went into the office, and then we went out for lunch, my managers birthday, and we just had a great time. It was a beautiful day here in Connecticut. The weather has turned around from the hot and humidity. That was last week, and it was really fun to catch up with them a little bit. And I was showing pictures of my grandson. I have a really fantastic video of him really smiling and interacting with my daughter in law. And they were all like, oh, my gosh, he's just simply gorgeous. Of course. So I was the proud grandpa during those sessions. You know how that can be. And then I'll just say, yesterday morning, I've been really practicing on video production, and I had a horrible test earlier in the week with my new iPhone and the gimbal, the DJI mobile se gimbal. And I went back to the drawing board and started studying and learning its functions a little bit. And then I had a really fantastic recording that I put out to my Patreon yesterday morning. So that was very satisfying to get that accomplished and make another small step towards learning video production and editing. And I also went into my descript program and did easy editing. I really had a revelation that I probably can learn this video editing piece. So there are some fun things, but see how they're very specific, and they were all from yesterday.

I, too, and I would say probably more than you, Kurt, struggle with this process and this practice of gratitude. Not that I'm necessarily not grace, grateful for the things in my life, because I genuinely am. I feel genuine gratitude for the life that I'm blessed with right now. But when I think about it, what am I grateful for specifically today? I get locked up sometimes. Sometimes we qualify these things. That's not big enough. That's not significant enough, that's not. And actually, it's easier just to say the things that you alluded to before. I'm grateful for this morning. I'm grateful for democracy. I'm grateful for. I'm grateful for oxygen. Right, right. And those are all things that, hey, listen, if you have a. If you have a practice of gratitude that you want to implement in your life, and that's what you have in the moment, God bless you for it. Right? I think it's part of the practice that's important. But I have three things myself, and I had the benefit of knowing I was going to ask us these questions. These are things that are seemingly mundane. I'm grateful for my morning walk this morning. I'm grateful that I'm able to carve out a time that I can think and walk and get physical exercise. I'm grateful that I have a neighborhood that is conducive to walking. I'm grateful that I have legs that all experience. Right?

Yeah.

And the morning walk is just. Has been, especially recently, such an important thing for me, getting up every morning and taking that mile and a half, 30 minutes walk around my neighborhood every morning. So I'm grateful for that morning walk. I'm also grateful for meeting my daughter's boyfriend. Now, that sounds weird, doesn't it? I'm grateful for meeting my daughter's boyfriend. Seemingly a nice guy, right? Just met him once. But what I'm most grateful for, Kurt, is that my daughter wanted me to meet him, that my daughter felt our relationship was important enough that she wants me to meet a new guy she's dating. So that's pretty cool, isn't it?

That is a great introspection. I asked you that in a little chat this week, and I really loved your answer, but I think that's the type of thing we're looking for, because it's okay to say, hey, it was a beautiful walk, the weather was gorgeous. My neighborhood is nice. The birds are singing, the sun's coming up. Those are all fantastic. I think you should recognize those things that others might miss. I'm not saying those aren't important, but I love this introspection that you had that not only are we glad to see that your daughter's boyfriend seems to be a decent guy, which we would all, as fathers, we want, but to also recognize how awesome it was that your daughter had the trust to share him with you for a meal.

Yeah. Yeah.

Very love that. That's a great one.

And finally, I'm grateful for comfortable shoes. I tend to live as much of a minimalist lifestyle as I can, and I think I have four pair of shoes total.

Yeah.

I have two dress shoes that are exactly alike, but one's black and one's brown, so. But they're exactly. They're exactly the same. I have a pair of gym shoes, and I have a pair of walking shoes. Right. These comfortable walking shoes. Oh, I'm sorry. I do have a pair of casual, casual shoes as well, but. And they're all. I bought them first for their comfort value, and I. And secondly, for their aesthetic value. Right. And I'm so grateful that. That I'm able to go to the store and buy comfortable shoes, and comfortable shoes are available, and the experience of walking in comfortable shoes is really something that I take for granted, and I'm really grateful for comfortable shoes.

I understand this completely struggle with plantar's fasciitis, and it flares up on occasion and creates incredible uncomfortable pain. I ran into a good friend again during work hours. He was walking at lunchtime and said, I was going out for lunch, but he's struggling with some pain. And I said, you know, I think you got plantar fasciitis, dude. And he's talking about getting some comfortable shoes, maybe learning what that is all about. But I can really relate to this.

We're going to talk about gratitude today, and we're going to talk about the mental health benefits of gratitude. How gratitude can improve your relationships, even your physical health, and your mindset and productivity at work, how gratitude can affect so much a part of your life if you practice this small, little, seemingly insignificant thing. And then we're going to finally talk about how to be grateful. And this is where I want to have a general, open discussion with you, Curt, and because there's some things that, some tips that I've read about that we'll discuss, but generally, how to be grateful. So, mental health, the mental health benefits, relationships, physical health, mindset and productivity, and how to be grateful. So let's talk. Let's start with the mental health. I picked up a research article from Robert Amens. He's a leading gratitude researcher, uh, whatever that means. I mean, I think he generally researches mental health, and he conducted multiple studies on the link between gratitude and well being. His research overwhelmingly confirms that gratitude effectively increases happiness and reduces depression. Now that's an interesting thing, right? It reduces depression. I think it's because there are emotions that can't live in the same place. It's very difficult to be grateful for something and be depressed, and I think that might even be outlined somewhere else in this discussion. But practicing gratitude can really help people experience more positive emotions. And if they take an opportunity to relish in those good experiences, if it does improve the mental health of the person, is it the answer to everything? I mean, there is clinical depression, there are physiological issues, but it certainly helps, right? It can certainly put you in the right mindset and just by practicing gratitude and being grateful for things in your life. So there are certainly mental health benefits to gratitude. Brian?

Yeah. I think what I pulled out from what you just said, and I've heard this, you can't feel two emotions that are opposing opposite of each other at the same time. It's very specific. So if you focus on depression, you're going to be depressed. If you focus on depressing things, if you listen to depressing things, if your mind is completely barraged by horrible things, that's what your reality is going to be. But if you very intentionally focus on gratitude, or you listen to really positive things and read positive things and talk about yourself internally, positively, I think we all tend to be really tough on ourselves. I know I am, I know you are. But to say, wait a minute, ive been trying to accomplish something here over the last few weeks. And I just did it yesterday or this morning. I walked, which is part of my healthy habits that I want to do, take credit for it. And I think when I'm doing that and I'm reading positive things, I'm listening to positive things, I show up at work in a positive mood, and a lot of people don't show up at work in the morning. Look at their faces. They're tired, grumbling, and not depressed. They're just in a bad mood.

Right.

That's a tough way to start your day.

You know, when somebody is just chronically grumpy or just chronically irritated, that's a. That's a. That's a pretty significant mental health issue. Right. That's their foundation. That's the foundation of their day. That's how they're starting their day, in this grumpy, negative way. And I think about driving into work, could I possibly find a way to be grateful for traffic? We'll see. We'll see.

I tell you, I had every right to be grumpy. When I got up in the morning, I didn't realize I slept through a storm that ripped through this area over the night. And I started down the road. I don't drive into work very often. The road was closed on my way.

Oh, no.

So I had to take a detour. And then when I finally got back onto the main road that I wanted to go on, all the lights were out. A very busy traffic area.

Yeah. So there's nothing like those four way stops or those nine ways or those. Those twelve way stops, right? Where you have this. These. This busy intersection where you have four lanes on. On each side, and people trying to figure out who got there first, because that's the rule, right. If the light's not working yet, you act like it's a stoplight. Right? And some people don't realize that. Some people don't know that, and those people need to fix themselves. Anyway, let's. Let's move on to the impact of gratitude on relationships. You know how I like. I like studies, right, Kurt? And almost every show is sprinkled with a study here and a study there, and this. This show is not unlike that, right? University of Georgia found that gratitude is the most consistent predictor of marital quality. Gratitude. Expressing gratitude to a partner can strengthen your relationship. Uh, and it creates this. This cycle of generosity. This cycle of gratitude. When somebody expresses gratitude to you, it's almost like they're giving you something, right? They're giving you that's a gift, a show of appreciation. And so when somebody gives you a gift, there's this law of reciprocity that we've talked about in the past and that we don't need to explore now. But I really invite you to pick up the book influence by Robert Cialdini that talks about reciprocity in the same spirit. Saying thank you can have long lasting effect on relationships. It's been proven through studies, including the study from the University of Georgia, that couples who express gratitude for their partners not only felt more positive towards that other person, but more comfortable expressing concerns about their relationships. It's easier to talk about the problems in the relationships if you face that person with gratitude, if you approach that person, appreciating who they are, and you tell them. Right. That's the important part. And you tell them what you appreciate about them. And I don't do enough of that. I mean, I think my wife, if she was being transparent, I probably don't do enough of that. I'll just read my mail out loud right now. I probably do that more with other, other people than the people who are closest to me. And that's a problem. Right. And so I really need to make sure that I express gratitude to everybody around me, the people who are close to me and the people who I work with and the people who I engage with on a regular basis, because relationships aren't just husband and wife. And this is, this talks a lot about partners. Right. But relationships are the people you work with, you gauge with on a, on a regular basis, whether it's work or church or whatever you're doing. But it's proven over and over again. And this study by the University of Georgia shows it as well, that gratitude is the most consistent predictor of a healthy relationship.

I think you're better than you say you are. You're better than me at this. So to hear you say you have a problem makes me feel even worse about myself. Now. I got a real problem. But I'm so proud of you for bringing up this particular area of gratitude because I love to have someone thank me or express gratitude to me. When you did it on this show, opening up, I'm like, gushing with, like, you did it to me and, yeah, and I just enjoy that. And I don't do it enough for others, particularly my wife or anyone else that I work with. Not enough. And this is a great point. This is something that we can do. And it, like you said, reciprocity will only come back to you the more you say this. Thank you. And you're really sincere about things. You really pick things that you have some emotion about and that you really believe in. People recognize that it's such a strong.

Bonding practice for a relationship. It just. It does nothing but good things across the board. There's a mindset that when you express gratitude, it almost. It's. It's almost like you're weakening yourself somehow. You're putting yourself in a vulnerable, vulnerable position. Yeah, that's a good word, Kurt. And we don't always want to do that. We want to be strong. But when you go to somebody, say, man, I really appreciate who you are.

Sounds kind of corny, maybe. Is that what it is?

Yeah, it might be corny, and we kind of. We want to avoid anything that smacks of corniness or that kind of thing, but, man, it's a practice that works. The power of strengthening the relationships. The power that gratitude brings on strengthening relationships is undeniable.

You know, we should also do. I'm thinking this, too, Joe, when. When someone shows you that gratitude to you, accept it. Like, I can think of instances where I've. I'm sincere and saying someone's feeling bad about something, and I'm sincere, saying, I'm really grateful the way you handled this. I don't want to give a very specific one. I'm thinking of something in my mind that's kind of personal, and they didn't kind of accept it, and I'm being sincere, and I want them to feel better about the situation because I think they did a great job, and I think they're not giving themselves enough credit. And that makes me, you know, I hate to see that when somebody doesn't notice what truly is an effort that they made that made things better.

And you bring up a good point as well. And if somebody expresses gratitude to you, receive it, say, thank you. I appreciate that. And let it soak in for a second, man. Let it soak in that somebody in this world that you made such an impact on this world that they expressed it. Expressed it directly to you. That's pretty cool.

I have a hard time giving and accepting gratitude.

Well, we're all a work in progress, right? We're all due.

Yes, we are.

Yeah. You know, that something that surprised me is the physical benefits of gratitude. And I don't know how to. I don't know where this. This connection really is. And I didn't dig too deep into all the physiological aspects of. Of gratitude. But I do know that a 2012 study published in personality and individual differences that's a, it's a pretty well respected magazine and publication said that grateful people experience fewer aches and painst and report feeling healthier than other people. Now, I don't know how that, I don't know how that works. I don't know if there's a correlation or causation or what the connection is, but it's at least worth trying.

Yeah. On the surface, it doesn't sound to make a lot of sense when you think of whatever you focus on is what you feel and that it, studies are showing that it does impact your physical body. Shouldn't be that surprising to us. But if you concentrate on, I'm tired, in pain, and I don't want, if people are in chronic pain, I can't speak to that. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the little things that we complain about that if we just take care of it, we'd be in a better place mentally.

Yeah. In that same spirit, I think if you practice gratitude and generally grateful individuals, because of the mindset changes that it brings, because of the emotional benefits that it brings, I think that those people who express gratitude and are generally grateful people, theyre just more likely to take care of themselves. Theyre more likely to exercise, more likely to maybe watch what they eat and do a head check. Right. Maybe get regular checkups and all that good stuff. When they have this mindset of gratitude, theyve put themselves in a positive light, in a positive position in life. And when you do that, you are healthier, you do take, you do tend to take care of yourself better and do all those things that are required. So I think you're onto something there, Kurt. I think grateful people just are more positive, and if you're more positive, you do the positive things. And so being grateful really does have, through many connections, real physical health benefits.

I love it. I believe it. Yeah. If you're in a painful situation, I had that kidney stone, which I had to like. There was nothing that was a physical pain. Luckily, I was in a good enough mind to say, hey, something's wrong here.

I don't think I'm so grateful for this pain. Thank you, universe, for I don't care.

How grateful I might have gotten. I don't think I would have worked through that one. But going to the hospital and getting it taken care of, getting the absolute good care, and I'm grateful for the doctors that were good for good to me and diagnosed it right away and figured it out and a little morphine didn't hurt either.

Yeah. Grateful. Grateful for good drugs. You know, we laugh, but modern medicine is something to be grateful for and to be as specific to say, hey, listen, I'm grateful. I'm grateful for that little needle in that little tube in that little liquid that, that went into my arm that gave me such unbelievable relief from this pain.

Well, you could look up the studies on the placebo effect, which are fascinating, that people with physical problems are giving a placebo in a controlled study compared to people that are giving drugs. And you'll see the people with the placebo actually improve their health.

Right.

That's undeniable.

Right? Absolutely. Absolutely. Here's something that really, that I gravitate towards, that I really grab onto is how gratitude can change your mindset and change your productivity. Practicing gratitude, I think the same University of California study that I talked about earlier shows that practicing gratitude can shift your mindset from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. So when you're grateful for something and you express that gratitude, that, again, we could get into, you know, your whole thing with the law of attraction. But, you know, it's kind of part of that whole, that whole idea that when you practice gratitude, it shifts your mindset from scarcity to abundance. And when you're able to shift your mindset from scarcity to abundance, it allows you to be, have a more positive outlook on life. When you have a more positive outlook on life, you're more productive because nobody is going to be productive on something that they don't think is going to work, right? Nobody's going to be productive that they don't think is going to have a good outcome, nobody's going to be productive on something that, that will not be additive to their life, right? So when you practice gratitude and you shift your mindset from scarcity to abundance, and you're inviting good things and good, you're inviting luck into your life, you're inviting good results, you're inviting positive things that allows for increased productivity.

Trey, I'll tee up a little topic I want to talk to on our next episode. And you're going to like, where did that come from? I think you might until you hear me get into this, I hope I do a good job with it. But, you know, I've been going to Broadway shows, and one thing that surprised me is some of the themes that come out of that. And my favorite Broadway show is called Hadestown. And one of the biggest themes that I walked away from that. And it's right in the dialogue in that, that sound in your head. The words in your head are the biggest detractor to your success.

I don't know.

When you say you can't have, I can't do that. And you have no positive outlook. You have defeated yourself before you even started.

Yeah. Self talk.

Self talk. That self talk in your head.

Yeah.

If you defeat yourself there, game over. You will not make any progress whatsoever.

Dude, I'm telling you, if you plan on putting a show together about self talk, I am so excited about that.

It's going to be one of the themes. I'll keep my themes small because there's a lot of themes in that show. We'll put that in there if we want to expand on it more, but there's a little intro to my next episode.

Evan. Awesome. Awesome. Here's something that the University of California also found that gratitude reduces stress and anxiety, which, of course, can produce, can produce or can increase productivity by improving focus and efficiency. People who practice gratitude, this study showed, had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and were more resilient in stressful situations. I mean, who doesn't want that in their life, man? Right? And this little tiny practice, this little tiny practice that we talked about in the very beginning of the show about comfortable shoes, you know what I mean? And a morning walk can produce all these fantastic results. And it's like everything else. Small, incremental daily practices, right? Can. Can produce big, small hinges, move big doors, right? These small practices every day, gratitude being one of them, can have all these benefits. The mental health benefits, the relationship benefits, the physical health benefits, mindset and productivity, just all from this little practice. Is it a cure all? No, nothing is a cure all. But when you start stacking these. These practices, including gratitude on top of each other, you're. You're almost as. You almost are a superhero. You're almost superhuman.

There's a lot that you just said there. The one that stands out to me that I've probably learned through some of our conversations, Joe, that I like here is resiliency. Developing our resiliency to stressful situations however you do that is so critical because our modern life is stressful. And the more resilient you can be, however you get there, I think gratitude is a piece of that. How much better your life is going to be if things can just bounce off you. Don't let them in. I'm not saying to not be a realist, but they shouldn't damage you when.

You'Re resilient, you can think more clearly about these problems when you allow things to bounce off of you. You know, I almost think of it like this. Like if you have a bullet coming at you, right? And that bullet, being the superhero that you are now, bounces off of you because of your resilience, you're able to take it. You know that. Now you, now there's some distance because that, that has bounced off of you and you're able to look at it more clearly. Oh, there's a bulletin that's coming at me. What can I do about that bullet? Where'd that bullet come from? You know, why is that bullet pointed at me? You know, all those things.

Yeah.

Resilience brings that.

Yeah. Love it.

That was a pretty good analogy, wasn't it? It wasn't bad.

Well, I would. It was good. I like the matrix better. Doesn't he, like, get out of the way of the bulletin? Yeah, slows down.

Well, he slows down and the bullets in front of him and he picks it up out of the, out of the air and tosses it away or something like that.

But hey, but that is a great analogy, that people who are resilient slow it all down.

Right? Right. Yeah, that's a good point.

Overcome them. They do. They, you slow it down and look at, look at it for what it is.

So how do we become more grateful? How do we practice gratitude more in our lives? How do you do it, Kurt? Where I struggle and I, and you, you talked about it, too, is just remembering, just in the day to day, in your day to day struggles of life, your day to day pressures, just recognizing the small things that youre a grateful for. How do you do that?

We do it for, from this podcast, we say, I was very persistent, even on our Saturday meetings that we talk about our win for the week, small thing. But isn't that a struggle sometimes to think about what your win for the week was, right.

And be grateful for that win?

Right.

Yeah.

When I'm doing, there's times when I'm on my best self, Joe, and I'm doing this more often. So what I struggle with is keeping that consistency of which this is motivating this episode, is motivating me to be more consistent with that.

Yeah.

But when I'm doing it right, writing these things down in a gratitude journal, as you suggest, I think, is a fantastic, there's something about putting something down in paper and focusing on that, that physical activity really does magically, I think, put you in a good mood for the day. So I think that alone is a fantastic way. And when I'm doing that. I definitely start my day out in a much positive tone.

However you keep your journal, that physical activity that slows you down to think about it is what's important to. To capture. To capture those things that you're grateful for. And this is some of the practices that. That were recommended for bringing gratitude into your life and expressing gratitude is to keep a. Keep a journal of some of some sort where you write down a few things every day that you're grateful for, and they can be simple, mundane things that you recognize throughout the day. Right.

For sure. I think that's the best way to do it. If you're struggling, whatever comes to the top of your mind, that's fine, and just keep drilling down. I did it this morning because I saw your note, and the first thing that came to mind was, I'm so happy for I have a roof over my head because we had a bad storm last night. I was so grateful that the tree didn't fall on my house last night. It did take out a tomato plant, but I'm so glad it didn't take out my office. You know, you start with those kinds of things, but I love drilling down to the things that are like, wow, I wasn't thinking of that. I'm so glad I remind myself of that thing that happened yesterday.

Yeah. So gratitude journals certainly help. And don't make a big deal out of this. You know, if it helps you to keep gratitude journal and go out and buy a $50 moleskine journal and the in your Mont blanc pen, and if that helps you do it, then make the investment. If that will help you do it, then make the investment. But you don't have to. Right. You can just take a couple post it notes every morning and write a couple words about what you're grateful for and put it on your computer screen. That would be a neat practice, right?

Yeah.

And you can remind yourself throughout your day that you're grateful for those things. That in and of itself is a. Is a. Is a type of gratitude journal. I think, again, that. That act, that physical activity that forces you to think about it. Right.

I go to the dollar store and I get a notebook for 70 pages. That's a dollar 25 now. And if I wrote on both sides and it got like three per page.

That'S like, you got a lifetime of gratitude there, dude.

That could be my annual gratitude journal for 70 pages. $1.25.

Right. Right. That's funny. That's funny. You know something that I do, and I do it. I try to do it every day, and I've been pretty good at it recently. The practice, mindfulness, that's is where you just take a few minutes of quiet time. You concentrate on your breathing. It's a practice of shutting everything out. It allows you to bring those things that you're grateful for into your life, to appreciate those small things. Part of that practice, even for me, part of the habit, part of the routine is getting that warm cup of coffee, sitting down in my brown, comfy chair, and practicing mindfulness really helps me to come out of those sessions. Being grateful for those small things, those small things in life. I think the most important thing that we can do as a daily gratitude practice is to write thank you notes. Think about that. When's the last time you wrote a physical thank you note? Not an email, not a text, which are important. Don't get me wrong. I think that this is how we communicate now, and I don't want to discount those at all. And I love to get a text that says, hey, thanks for. Thanks for stopping over, or thanks for bringing that meal, or, hey, good to talk to you, buddy. You know, those kind of things. I love receiving those. But again, in an attempt to slow ourselves down, to get a piece of. To get a. To get a note card and write a thank you note and send that thank you note to somebody, that's powerful.

I think that's one of the biggest takeaways I have from your conversation today, Joe. And it's one thing I want. No, I don't know when the last time I did that.

Yeah, I can't think of it either.

Oh, really? Okay. But that is. It's very powerful. People will say that to me if. If you've ever done it before, the fact that you hand wrote a note back to them. I do that sometimes. When I had some prizes that I gave out in my community, I would hand write it. And that was intentional. That seems to mean more to people. That's been my experience. But that, that is a big takeaway for me on this episode.

Yeah. And let's be prepared for that. Right. Let's go out this weekend. We're recording this on an early Friday morning. Let's go out this weekend and buy a box of thank you notes. Go to your dollar store. I'll bet you there are a dollar 25 for ten of them. Right.

Exactly.

And buy a box of. Buy a box of thank you notes. Not fancy, not crazy. You know, if you want to. If, again, if making that investment. If making a big investment will help you, then God bless you for it. Right. But you don't have to. You can just take. Heck, you can take thick paper stock and cut it into quarters and make that your thank you card. Right. But get yourself some thank you notes. And, and as you. As you come to appreciate somebody, write them a little thank you note. Go get their address. Go buy some stamps. I like this. I didn't think I, when I was. When I was preparing for this episode and putting these notes together and I wrote this, I didn't think I would appreciate that as much as I do right now. But I really do think this is an important practice that I need to do 100%. Yeah.

I'm a little afraid of my follow up, but. Okay, well, you're going to challenge me. Maybe that'll help me.

Just send me your address.

Dude, I don't even write down people's addresses. That's the sad part about that.

Well, let's wrap up right there. I think we covered a lot here. The mental health benefits, relationships, physical health mindset and productivity, and, and some, some nice tips and, and practices on being grateful.

Thank you, Joe, for this episode. I love this topic. I think you just did an awesome job. Hit it out of the park, as they say. Use a baseball analogy. Thanks so much for this reminder. I love it. I'm going to practice. More gratitude coming up.

This. I appreciate that, man. Thank you. Thank you.

Well, as usual, I had trouble thinking of my win for the week. My win for the week is another New York City trip with my daughter Lindsay. This was a show that came up on my facebook called Stereophonic, and it really caught my eye because it was about music, particularly music in the seventies and a recording artist, a band with their struggles with addiction and relationships that are going on in the band. And when I sent it to her, I didn't think she would react so positively to it because it was a play and not a musical. I didn't know if she knew about it at all. I knew it really appealed to me. I didn't know if it appealed to her, but she immediately bought tickets for us. Awesome.

That's so cool, dude.

The only thing she said negative about it was, dad, I wish you had told me, like, three days before that, because they just got nominated for 13 Tony awards, and so they ended up winning, I think, five of those before we went to the show. We even got a chance to meet up with some of my podcast listeners, Kathleen and Samantha, and had a fantastic dinner. It was just an awesome day in New York City with my daughter and some friends and a great show.

Whenever you get a chance to go to New York with your daughter Lindsay and see a show or spend time there, I know that's going to be your win for the week, and that's awesome. But here's the cool thing. Almost every single time you pull something different from it, right? You pull a different aspect, you pull a different experience, you pull a different mindset, the spending time with friends and how your daughter reacted to. I wish you would have done it earlier, you know what I mean? And let me know earlier and stuff like that. That's all. That's all just so cool to me. But the foundational win that you got to hang out with your kid and she wants to hang out with you, that's pretty daggone cool.

And dad scored a good show. She's a very tough critic when it comes to performances, and I love listening to her critique. And she was. We were amazed by the acting and the dialogue and the comedy that was part of this and the emotions. We kept saying, my gosh, that was a little bit rough because of the emotions that this show brought out is 3 hours long and we were never bored.

Wow. Awesome. Awesome. And remind us of the. Of the show again.

Well, it's going to be my resource or tip or hack for the week, so you have to.

Okay, I'll wait then. I had a couple that I could really. A few that I could really call out. And I mentioned one earlier, the dinner with my daughter's boyfriend, my daughter and her boyfriend, and my wife, Karen. But also this past father's day, two of my three daughters surprised me with a day with them at Kings island. We spent 6 hours at Kings island together. Now, when you're a seasoned pass holder at anything, you don't typically go, okay, I'm going to use the term okay that you'll recognize. You don't typically go full stink, right. But as much as we could in half a day, we did. Dude, we rode rides and ate and have just had a blast together, man. And there was one specific scene where we're riding a roller coaster. And this is pretty emotional for me right now, so give me a second. Okay.

Wow.

Where we're riding a roller coaster. So there's three of us. My daughter, my wife didn't ride with us, so there's three of us. My two daughters are sitting in the car in front of me. Like I'm. We're in the same car, but they're sitting, sitting in the two seats in front of me. I'm sitting by myself in the seat, and I'm able to watch them on the ride right from. From behind. So I'm able to watch them from the right and just watch them with their hands up and screaming and hollering and going around the loops and going around the turns and just. And to realize that they wanted to hang out with dad in this moment and I'm in. It was almost like a throwback to them being little kids to me because I remember seeing them on roller coasters as little kids with their hands up and screaming and hollering, and it was just a very cool experience. So, yeah, this father's day, two of my three daughters surprised me with a day with them at Kings island, and it was awesome.

They must know their dad thinks memories are better than stuff.

Oh, yes, they do.

Is that something you've said to them?

I've said it a few times. I've said it a few times. Any of you that want to learn the reference to memories are better than stuff, go to the simplejo.com and you'll see my. Now, I don't want to say I'll call it on the hiatus for now, but I talk a lot about memories are better than stuff. So, yeah, they. They know. They know how dad feels that memories are better than stuff. So there's my win for the week.

This is no surprise to me, Joe. As you know, I do a podcast on Disney World, and it's got some of the most entertainment in the entire world in a small space, worldwide, considering. But you know what? The number one thing I hear all the time is the things that they didn't expect are these emotional things like you just described.

Yeah.

Watching your family react to things.

Yep.

I mean, that needs to be said. I always say when you go to Disney world or go out on vacation with your family and you actually get time to spend with them without any distractions, sit back and see what happens. And I love the emotion that you experienced, and I totally, 100%. And, you know, I get it.

Yeah, definitely. It's pretty awesome, dude.

I love it.

Pretty awesome. Yeah.

Especially when your kids are right. I get that, too. I hear that. Also. It's one thing when the kids are little and they're dependent on you.

Right.

And they're little kids and they're having a good time. But when you say, I'm your adult.

Kids, acting like little kids, that's awesome, man. And my general disposition is immature.

I want to be that way. Yes. We get enough adulting.

Right, right. And, uh, yeah. So that was cool. What an. What a cool day. Well, how about your resource? I'm excited to hear about this one.

Go see. Stereophonic. There's a reason why they were nominated for 13 Tony awards and won five of them.

Wow.

And I mean, to me, out of the blue, I mean, it appealed to me because of the subject matter of a classic rock band in the seventies trying to put an album together and all of the internal fighting, and there was dialogue between every character, like, one on one with each other. I was thinking about this and just the. What an incredible script. The music is pretty good. They don't really focus on it, but the music is there. And the staging of the studio, man, they just did a great job. And if you get a chance, they are being extended into January of next year, you get a chance to be in New York, and you want to see a fantastic play with some great music put in there, too. Stereophonic. Check it out.

So you've talked about a lot of plays and going to a lot of play.

Well, musicals, mostly.

Yeah. Yeah. Music different. Yeah, you're right. So this is not a. This is a musical, right?

Not technically, no. It's okay.

One, because of the. Because of the. Because of the. The nature of the. The show. But is this based on any kind of true story? Is this based on a. An actual band?

What do you think? What would be your guess? From what I just told?

Yes, I would say yes. But do you know who the band is?

No. Fleetwood Mac.

Oh, okay. Did you say that already? Did you mention.

I didn't. I didn't maybe give you enough information.

Okay.

But there's a married couple that's in the middle of a breakup.

Yeah.

And the other couple is not married, but they have a long term relationship.

Sure.

And that's a classic. Stevie Nicks.

Yeah. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Graham. Not Lindsey Graham. Lindsey Buckingham. Lindsey Graham's a us senator. Lindsey Buckingham.

I knew what you meant, but I couldn't remember his name either.

Yeah. Mick Fleetwood and Christy McVie.

Yes.

Right. Yeah.

Mick. And so the. The bass player has the alcohol and drug abuse problem.

Mm hmm.

And I'll tell you. I don't know. I've. I've tried to watch people as actors try to perform someone with a substance abuse or having an alcohol problem, and it doesn't really. They don't really convince me. This guy. Oh, my gosh. Was blown away, and he's the one who won best actor in a play.

Wow.

For the Tony award. Yeah. Pretty. Pretty stunning performances. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely. They're. They're taking from the rumors album and the struggles that that band went through and the emotions and the amazing album and the struggles that they had already had a number one hit out there and how to repeat that. So, good stuff.

Well, my resource is not nearly as dramatic, pun intended. Right. But I. I have a morning routine, and part of that morning routine are two things. I have breathing exercises, right, where I do a certain, certain type of breathing exercise, and I have. I do morning stretches, all right. Both of those parts of my morning routine require me to count. Right. To count a cadence. Okay. And ideally, it's seconds, right. And I do. I do a breathing exercise where it's. And we can talk about this some other time, but it's ten breaths in, hold for ten breaths in, hold for 30 seconds or 10 seconds. Breathe in, hold for 30 seconds, and release for 20 seconds. Right. And I do that three times. That's my, kind of my quick, quick breathing exercise. And I have a morning routine where I stretch, and part of the stretching is I want to stretch for a certain number of seconds. Okay. My problem is if I'm in a hurry, right, or if I'm. If I just want to get through it or if I'm. I can't stand the pain, man. Those seconds go quick. 1234-5678 910, 1112, 34, 50. There I am. I'm done. So what I did, and I recognized this about myself, right? I recognized that I was doing this, and I've been doing it for a long time. And I always thought, man, if there's some way, I just need some kind of tick in the background that ticks off seconds, you know? And I thought about getting a little timer that I could hear the tick or something like that. But I found this app called easy metronome. Now, do you know what a metronome is?

It's. So I didn't want to bring it up again, but it was part of.

The show, because that isn't that interesting.

It's funny that you bring that, the parallel, because the producer in the studio was hearing a problem with the drummer, so he said, let's bring a metrodome in the.

Yeah. So a metronome is just this. You see them on top of pianos a lot, and it ticks back and forth to help you keep the beat. Right. Well, this app called easy Metronome, it's a free app, and you can set it up to count whatever cadence, half second, quarter seconds, whatever that, whatever that is. And there's some musical principle behind this, but I don't use it for that. I just said 60 beats per minute, right, which is every second. And, and I've been using it for a week or so, and it's really made a difference, man. I put this easy metronome on and it goes. And I have a block sound. Not it, not a, not an aggressive, just a kind of soft block sound. And it ticks off the seconds and it forces me to do, to count out the seconds and to complete my breathing exercise and complete my stretching without rushing through it, thinking that I've done something great by counting four times as fast just because I wanted to get done with it. So there you go.

I relate to that so much because I have no patience and I rush through everything.

Yep, me, too. Me, too. It's called easy metronome. It's a free app. I have a Android phone, so I don't know if it's available on Apple, but I know it's available on Android. Easy metronome. In another episode, we talk a lot about chat GPT. In another episode, I want to, I want to explore chat GPT as a resource for journaling. I have discovered a powerful resource for journaling using chat GP.

Oh, I can't wait to hear. Thanks for teasing.

It's awesome. It's awesome. So let's wrap up with a, with a quote.

Be thankful for what you have. You'll end up having more if you concentrate on what you don't have. You will never, ever have enough. Oprah Winfrey.

Oh, that's awesome. Oh, that's awesome. I'll tell you why that's awesome. Number one, it's so true. Right? Be thankful for what you have. You'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you'll never have enough. I love that quote because it wraps up everything we've been talking about. Right. But I also love it because it came from Oprah.

Really?

Yeah. Because when I was putting the show together, I had two people that stood out as examples of gratitude. Now, there were lots of people, but I, I wanted to pick one. And there was Richard Branson and, and there was Oprah. Right. And Oprah has a whole thing about gratitude, and Richard Branson does as well. So I said, okay. And I had Oprah in there first, but I said, you know, we have a show called dudes in progress, right? So I appreciate Oprah. I appreciate her success and all of that other stuff, but Richard Branson is a dude, right? So I used Richard Branson and I'm so glad that, that you, that you pulled Oprah Winfrey into this, because she has a lot to say about gratitude.

Yeah, I do my searches, and I usually ask for ten quotes that I can use, and that was, like, one of the first ones that came up, and I'm like, that can't be the one. But I really liked it, and I'm going through. I'm going with Oprah. That really, I think, sums it up for me.

She's done something right in life, hasn't she?

I love it.

Yeah, that's cool. Mine comes from Zig Ziglar. Now. Zig Ziglar. You may not know who Zig Ziglar is, but. But if you've done any kind of personal development training or sales training or anything like that, Zig Ziglar is like one of these grand poo boss, one of these grandfathers of the movement, right. Of the personal development movement and very popular in the sales circles. And he's got. He's gone now, but he had this folksy, down home, southern kind of way of talking and just very relatable, right. Lot of life experience, blessed with incredible wisdom and the ability to communicate it, to communicate both. And he said, and I love this, gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.

Interesting how our quotes are very similar in.

Yeah, absolutely.

What they're pointing to.

Absolutely. Very cool. Love it. Well, thanks for hanging out for me today, dude. Great show. I am. I am genuinely grateful for you, my friend. And, and I look forward to these. To these episodes every single, every single time we do it. But let's go ahead and wrap up right there. Our website is dudes in progress.com, dudes in progress.com. and our email address is dudes at dudes in progress.com. dot. If you want to reach out to us about anything about coaching opportunities, about podcasting, about the show, about being on the show, possibly. If you want to be on the show and talk about a subject that, that jazz is you, we'll explore that. Or if you have comments about the show suggestions, we would love to hear from you dudes at dudes in progress.com. and again, our website is dudesinprogress.com. dot. Remember, be grateful for the progress you make, even if it's small, because progress is better than perfection. We just gotta keep moving forward.

This was a great show. Thank you so thank you so much, Joe, for bringing this. I love this show. And I hope everyone else is inspired as I am to be more grateful in the coming weeks. I'm grateful for you, Joe. Thanks so much. Have a great weekend.

Talk to you soon, buddy.